Bleeding Heart
by Kiarra24
Summary: Anne Richard has moved to LaPush with her father at a young age following the death of her mother. Follow Anne as she discovers friends and the secrets that lay in the LaPush reservation. **Slow burn. **Disclaimer: I do not own anything that you recognize from the book series, only my OC's
1. Chapter 1: Push in the right direction

**Hi readers, welcome to my story! I've been working on and off on this for years and am finally uploading the first chapter! Please be kind in your comments, I certainly am open to constructive criticism and am excited to hear your opinion! The chapters will be uploaded every couple weeks though I make no promises as I do follow a busy schedule! Well, enjoy! :)**

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Best friends are the ones you rely on for support, to be there to catch you when you fall, to lend a hand in a time of need, a constant presence in one's life that no one can tear apart. At least that's what I'd always believed, I guess sometimes there have to be exceptions to the rules, sometimes things just don't go as planned. I guess Destiny and Faith are funny things, they make changes in your life that you don't see coming and bring the most unlikely of people together.

I guess I should start from the beginning, my name is Anne Richard, and I'm a seventeen-year-old girl from La Push, a small reservation near the small town of Forks. My father and I moved here when I was just seven years old. Now, let me tell you being the only "pale face" at the small school on the Rez wasn't easy. The reason for the move was because my grandmother on my dad's side was from the Rez and she wanted my father and I to learn more about our native origin since she had moved away to Canada to marry my grandfather before my father was born. My father had been very hesitant to move here while my mom was still alive, but after the car accident both he and my grandmother agreed that making the move to La Push would be for the best, a new start.

I first thought it was a bad move, both of us had inherited fair skin although my father had the dark hair and eyes and could get one hell of a tan in the summer, me on the other hand my fair skin burned when I tried to tan (trust me I've tried), it also didn't help that my hair was strawberry blond and my eyes a swirl of green and yellow, all traits I had gotten from my mom.

My first year at school I was constantly bullied because of my skin colour, whispers and rumours were always going on around me, it probably made it worse that I'd get into fists fights at school. I was the tomboyish type you see, even though I never won the battles I never went down without a fight. Unfortunately, it also meant I got into trouble with the principle on a few occasions, my father wasn't impressed with me either but he'd also taught me to stand up for myself I guess he just didn't mean for me to hit back.

It was during third grade, my second year at the school that I made my first friend; I'd have to say it didn't start out that way. Jacob Black was one of the boys that didn't feel the need to bother me, him, and his cousin and friend Quil Ateara didn't seem to see the fun in pushing me around. I think it had something to do with the fact that Jacob's dad, Billy, was the chief of the Rez and everybody went to him in times of need.

My father was no different, when he realized I didn't have any friends on my second year at the Rez, he expressed his concerns to Billy. Of course, Billy's solution was to send his son to my rescue, encouraging him to make friends with me. That didn't work out well; Jacob was reluctant of the idea until he was offered a red mountain bike as an incentive. I believe our first conversation started when Jake approached me in the school yard, it was March just a month after my ninth birthday, and I was at the old swing set in the school grounds. The swing set had been my hang out from the beginning, people left me alone and it was harder to hear the whispers while going up back and forth. I'd seen Jake make his way towards me for the first time, and though he'd never been mean I was definitely expecting something bad to happen. As soon as he stopped in front of me I jumped off the swing and looked at him expectantly, arms crossed and eyebrows raised while I waited for him to speak up.

"Hi umm… I'm Jake; I was wondering if you'd like to come over and hangout sometime. Me and Quil need a third person to play this game…" It's safe to say I was shocked and suspicious but I couldn't help but be overjoyed at the thought of finally making a friend. "Sure" I replied a little reluctant. "I just have to tell my dad, where do you live?" Jake looked uncomfortable for a moment and then said "I live just a block from your place, you could come over tonight? My dad's coming to get me after school and I noticed that your dad always picks you up, you could ask him then." It never occurred to me until later how scripted the situation was.

Sure enough, after school I found my dad speaking to Billy with a smile on his face I don't think I'd seen him that happy in a while. I walked towards them and Billy looked over. "Well hello, you must be Anne, Jake told me he invited you over, your father said it was fine with him if you're ok with it." I smiled and nodded "I'd like that very much sir" I answered. "Just call me Billy, Anne, sir makes me sound old" he laughed.

I turned to my dad to make sure I had permission only for him to nod towards a red truck where Jake was sitting with the door opened. Billy and I made our way there while my father said he'd be over in a while, I think he'd said something about groceries. When we got to the truck Jake smiled at me and tried to help me in the truck, unfortunately we both ended up tumbling to the ground, Billy could be heard laughing behind us, Jake would definitely be a gentleman when he got older. Once Billy took pity on Jake he picked us up and sat us in our seats.

While Billy made his way to the other side I started to pull on my seat belt, when I was interrupted by Jake. "What are you doing?" he asked. "Putting on my seatbelt" I replied giving him an incredulous look. "Daddy always says it's not safe to drive without one". Jake just kept staring "But we just live down the street!" I sighed and said "Well my Mommy just went down the street and she didn't make it back…" It was the first time I'd mentioned my mom's accident since it had happened three years ago. I think Jake finally understood because he resigned and put on his seatbelt muttering under his breath.

When we made it to his place we got out of the truck, his house was a small three bedroom Jacob's two sisters weren't often there. The two mostly hung around with their friends although they moved straight out when they were old enough and passed down their room to me since I was there so often. You could tell that boys lived there, dirty dishes and old food containers in the living room but I liked it, my house was always clean, just like when my mom was there, the place gave me a feeling that everything didn't have to be perfect all the time. Both Jake and I made our way to his bedroom while Billy set out to prepare diner.

The atmosphere was awkward at best at first, until I saw his ninja turtles' figurines. "You like the ninja turtles!" I exclaimed he looked at his toys and back at me, "You like them too? I didn't think a girl would like them, Quil has the other two at his place he's supposed to bring them back later; when he comes over we can all play together." He looked relieved at my bright smile "Just because I'm a girl doesn't mean I don't like things a boy would like!" I teased and Jake smiled back just as brightly "you know," he said "you're not as bad as everyone says; I think we'll get along well".

Just then Billy called us over to the living room for some mac and cheese, Jake and I made our way there and he went and sat on the couch with his plate, while Billy was on his lazy boy, already halfway done his. I grabbed what I figured was my plate from the coffee table and sat next to Jake. "So where are you from? I know the kids at school said you're from Canada, but I wasn't sure where." I looked over to Jake and replied "Oh! We lived in Vancouver, it was nice there. There wasn't so much rain. That's where my granddad met grandma, she was just supposed to visit but granddad said he stole her away" I laughed at that, it was my favourite story. Jake smiled.

When Quil finally arrived, he looked taken aback to see me there, apparently, he didn't expect me to actually come. He forgot about that as soon as Jake mentioned that I was a fan of the turtles too, we definitely hit it off. The three of us were seen together every day at school and most nights at each other's houses. The amount of bullying I had to deal with was also slowing down; I have a feeling Jake and Quil made sure of that.

Now don't think I forgot about the red bike, that red bike was the reason for our first fight. I remember the day he first got it he was so excited he showed it off to Quil and I within the first hour that he had gotten his hands on it. He even let us take short rides on it; all three of us were having a great time when Billy called Jake in for a moment, he seemed concerned about something. It seemed like fate wasn't on their side because at that moment I caught an urgent need to pee. I made my way to the door and down the hallway I was almost to the kitchen when I first heard Billy.

"Jake, I know you've been good and made friends with Anne like I asked you too, but if I see that you break off that friendship because I gave you the bike like I promised I…" He didn't even have time to finish because that's when I made my presence known, tears threatened to leave my eyes but I held them back, and both had a surprised look on their faces. "So… I-I was just some kind of joke is that it?! Poor pale face girl needs a friend!" I yelled "n-no Anne…" Jake tried but I wasn't having it. "I don't need anyone's pity! Just leave me alone!" With a sob, the tears I'd been holding back began to fall down my cheeks as I ran out the door, crying all the way, I didn't even stop when Quil asked what was wrong.

Down the street I went all the way to my house, but I just kept running through the back yard and straight into the woods. When I finally stopped I sat down next to a tree and cried, when I finally decided to look up I realized I had no idea where I was, and even worse I didn't know how to get back. I must have been there a while because everything was dark around me, rain drops were starting to fall, I didn't know what to do but I knew I had to stay put: that was the number one thing my father had told me to remember if I ever got lost in the woods.

Time went by slowly everything was quiet and getting darker and darker. I must have sat there for a few hours crying and staring out into the woods. Finally, I started to hear voices in the distance I yelled out to them but they must not have heard me, a few moments later I heard a deep sigh and turned around to find a young teenager and his mother both looking relieved to find me. The woman looked to the boy and he nodded, she turned and left. The boy might have been thirteen or so he started to approach me "Hi you must be Anne," I nodded still curled next to my tree "I'm Sam, every ones looking for you, your dad is really worried, why don't you come home? I know the way back" He said while extending his hand towards me. Something seemed really safe about him, I don't know what it was but I threw myself in his arms. To say he was surprised was putting it lightly.

We walked back together towards the house, or should I say he walked… I was settled on his back. When I could see a small light in the distance I realized I had run quite some ways away. "You know Jake was really worried about you, said this was entirely his fault," Sam said "he told me what happened you know, and I think it was an honest mistake. Both him and Quil were crying when I left." I turned my face and looked at him in the eye, "Really?" I asked, he laughed at that "Really." He replied.

When we got to my back yard my father, Billy, Joy (Quil's mom), Jake and Quil were waiting for me, when they saw me they all seemed so relieved, my father ran to us and gave me the single biggest hug I've ever had to this day. We walked over to the others and once my father put me down Jake walked over "I'm really sorry Anne! It was all my fault! Just because Dad told me to ask you over, didn't mean we didn't like you!"

He really did look pained and I realized that maybe I had jumped the gun. I gave him a watery smile and ran to give him a hug; I think he turned every shade of red possible. When I let go I looked at him and extended my pinkie "friends?" He wrapped his pinkie in mine with a smile and gave his reply "friends." He said with a nod.

That night I was given the biggest punishment of my life, I had to go straight home after school and no friends over for a month… It was torture but it was worth it because Jake, Quil and I were best friends. Later that year Embry joined our group of friends and the four of us were inseparable, until she came…


	2. Chapter 2: Legends

Jake, Quil, Embry and I even at fifteen were inseparable, and everywhere we went, we were seen together, time flew by quickly. Everyone said I was one of the boys and I had to agree with them, it wasn't just my clothes which usually consisted of a pair of slightly baggy jeans, most of them with holes in the knees and a sweatshirt. I could always be found rough housing with the boys or running in mud puddles while the other girls made sure to avoid every one of them.

When puberty hit, I was the girl who was unfortunate enough to "develop" early. Although I'm sure most girls would have liked to have my body, I didn't think it was great at all. Who knew that boobs hurt while playing hard core sports…? It also meant my dad had to give me the dreaded talk. I don't think my dad or I ever knew we could turn so red in the face. He'd made sure my Gran talked to me about it too during one of our visits, to make sure he hadn't missed anything. I don't know why he didn't just get her to tell me in the first place.

The boys were now taller than me, though Quil was still the shortest of the three. We saw each other go through everything, acne, awkward growth fazes and, in my case, braces. Embry had a laugh about those when I tried to chew bubble gum and it got stuck on the wires, I'd finally stopped growing at 5'6" while the boys kept it up. Jake and I went through a lot together; he had become my best friend through the years. I was there for him when Billy ended up in a wheel chair when his diabetes hit hard. I went through every heart break with him, and gave him tips on how to make a good impression on the girls he liked. I'd never mentioned that my feelings for him had developed over the past few years; I don't think he ever saw me as anything but one of the guys.

We still hung out at Jake's most of the time; he had found a beat up 1986 red Volkswagen Rabbit that we'd started to work on. To say it was a truck was an insult to every other truck around, considering it consisted of the shell and not much more. But it was his baby and getting it up and running became our own little project. I got him parts every time I got the chance; I had taken on a small job at the corner store on the weekends to get a little money, Jake promised to pay me back by driving me around. Billy was still the same; the wheelchair hadn't kept him immobile for long, getting Jake to drive him around, although underage. He still went fishing with Chief Swan and Harry Clearwater, he and my dad had gone fishing once and realized my dad couldn't sit still for so long. They watched games on Billy's TV all the time though.

By this time my feelings for Jake had gone from friends to a crush to even more. It hurt me every time he found a new girl he liked. It was even worst when he'd come over to tell me about how perfect they were, it made me feel insignificant, but what could I expect, I was one of the guys. Quil of course knew I liked Jake, he was more perceptive of things like that and in turn I would talk to him some about it, I definitely couldn't tell my dad: I don't think the sleep overs would have lasted long after that.

I was walking into the schoolyard one day and immediately spotted Jake waiting for me by the front doors, "Hey Jake! How was the game last night?" I asked Billy and Charlie had made a men's night to watch the ongoing NHL playoffs. He gave me that big goofy grin "It was the same as usual" He answered, I gave him a skeptic look "What did you do?" he shrugged his grin getting bigger "Nothing too bad, I put some of that food colouring dye in dads toothpaste last night before we left, his teeth were still blue when we got to Charlie's… Charlie thought it was funny" He said, I cocked my eyebrows at him "Seriously?" He just kept laughing, 'Yep! My best friend is immature…' I thought.

Just then Quil ran towards us in the school yard "Hey Jake! Anne! How are you two this fine morning?" He kept grinning even after I glared at him. Quil and I have different views of mornings, I was the grump and he was cheerful no matter what. He made sure to give me extra bright good mornings. "You know one of these days I'm gonna be in a particularly bad mood and you're gonna get it, just you wait!" I said with a smile on my face. Jake started laughing at our antics, he'd gotten used to our morning routine.

"Hey where's Embry? We're supposed to meet before class for our science assignment" I looked to Quil and Jake waiting for a response. "Oh um…" I looked to Quil expectantly, "you see, he's actually hiding from you…" Quil's eyes grew wide when he saw me smile at that, I probably had one of those 'I'm gonna kill someone' smiles.

Quil quickly made his way behind Jake "and why would he be hiding from me huh? Did he not do his part?" I asked getting a little annoyed, not that I hadn't made sure to write up his part too, this happened almost every time we got paired up. "Well I think he said something about a date and how he was about to die… I assume he meant he went on the date and forgot the essay and you were going to end his life…"

Jake couldn't stop laughing at that one. "Am I really that scary when I get mad?" I asked making my eyes water, that old trick worked every time on Quil, something about crying women made him real uncomfortable. He squirmed in his spot, then wrapped me in a hug "Of course not, you just go a little over board some times. Like when you glued Jake to his chair in fifth grade for breaking your art project…"

I giggled at that, Jake had to take his pants off in class to get off the chair, and the teacher had given us both detentions for that one. "Don't worry about it" I replied "I heard Jen talk about how she had a date with him so I went ahead and wrote his part". Jake looked a little upset at that "What did you do that for? He should have taken the time to do it!" he exclaimed as we walked to our classes. I looked at him "Alright so you're good to do that math homework on your own now?" I smirked when he realized I'd caught him there.

Classes were classes, nothing unusual ever happened, Quil and I had most of our classes together while Embry and I shared Science and I had math with Jake. I'm a pretty good student, I goof off once in a while but who doesn't? After I'd started hanging out with Jake that first year everybody backed off which was nice. I hadn't gotten into any more fights, Jake and Embry made sure no one bothered me.

Unfortunately, it also meant guys were scared of asking me out… I'd gone on a few dates after I realized Jake probably wouldn't like me back, but Jake would scare them all off in the end. Quil had told me that maybe he did like me after all but nothing ever happened. I didn't want to ruin our friendship by asking him on a date. I only realized later that maybe I should have taken my chances…

The four of us met up after school, Embry had finally shown himself after receiving a text from Quil to say the coast was clear. We were heading to Jakes place; Billy had invited us to sit around the fire. He did this about once a year to tell us legends about the Quileute's. He believes that the people from the rez are descendants from wolves or something, I may not believe it but I secretly loved hearing the stories. They were very intriguing and Billy was always happy to have me there for his storytelling.

"So, what legend do you think your dad is going to talk about tonight? That last one about the treaty with Ephraim Black was amazing… I think that's my favourite one…" I couldn't hold in my excitement, it happened every time and with every new legend I had a new favourite. "I'm not sure Anne, we'll find out when we get there" Jake shrugged his shoulders obviously not as interested as I was.

"Hey Anne remember the first time you heard the legends? If I remember right you had nightmares about the cold ones" Embry chuckled at the memory "Yeah so what? They sound really creepy who wouldn't be scared of vampires… Billy seems to think the Cullen's from the legends are related to the ones who live in Forks…" I shivered just thinking about it I knew that the Cullen's didn't really have anything to do with our legends Billy just liked to scare me once in a while.

"Nah that's not what he said Anne," I looked to Embry "Well what do you think he said?" I asked when he didn't keep going. "He said they were the same ones that made the treaty with Ephraim Black…" I shivered at that Quil who was walking next to me placed his arm around my shoulder while Embry and Jake laughed it out giving each other a high five. "You know he's just pulling your tail, right?" Said Quil in a whisper "I know, it's just creepy how they have the same last name and everything. They just seem to have added two more to the count." I replied.

See in the last legend that was told Ephraim Black is said to have met with these five "cold ones" and for some reason or other he created a treaty with them, Billy said they had the same last name as Dr. Cullen's family. Dr. Cullen had just recently moved to Forks with his wife and five adopted children, they were the talk of the town, they definitely gave the gossipers a lot to talk about. Although I'd never met them I had overheard one of the girls at school say they were remarkably good looking, but seemed anti-social keeping to themselves at all times. Billy had seemed a little more stressed lately, he kept discouraging the people of the rez to visit the Forks hospital when someone was sick, and both Jake and I thought he was taking the legends a little too far. Even Charlie got mad at him one day when he heard of this I was the first time I ever saw chief Swan so angry… Neither of them spoke to each other for a while.

We dropped by my place so I could leave my things at home; my dad had yet to arrive; I left a note on the counter to let him know where I'd be. After that we headed over to Jakes, we'd just walked up the driveway when Billy wheeled himself around the corner from the back. "Hey kids! You ready to hear another legend?" He asked, the boys shared a look, they'd never admit that they like hearing about our ancestors. "Yeah what legend are you going to talk about today Billy?" I asked hopping to hear something new, Billy had yet to tell the same legend twice.

"I thought I'd tell you the legend about the third wife today, it's one of our most important legends. They say we're descendants from wolves you know." He answered, it wasn't the first time he'd mentioned our supposed relations to wolves, it was hard to imagine and even more so to believe we had anything to do with wolves. Not like there are werewolves roaming around, right?

We all sat around the small fire Billy had been working on before we'd arrived and waited patiently for Jake and Embry to join us, we were all sitting in lawn chairs, Quil sat on my right, and the chair to my left was reserved for Jake then Embry would sit next to him. Billy sat in his wheelchair on the other side of the fire, he was the story teller and we the audience, when Jake and Embry finally sat down Billy cleared his throat.

"As I've already told you and if you remember…" He gave a pointed look to the boys "Our ancestors were originally what they called spirit warriors; they could leave their bodies as spirits to defend the tribe. Things changed when the great chief Taha Aki merged his spirit with a wolf after Utlapa, the traitor, stole his body to become chief. Since then we are said to be able to reach the wolf spirits in great times of need." He paused to sip his coffee, looking at us to make sure we were following.

It was an unspoken rule that we asked questions after the legend was told, although it was hard to hold back sometimes, Billy cleared his throat and continued. "After Utlapa was defeated Taha Aki discovered that as he kept changing into his wolf spirit he did not age, he married twice, before he finally met his third and final wife. She was the most important, his soul mate, she was the one he gave up his wolf spirit for, to live the rest of his life with her. Trouble found him when he'd begun to grow old, women from the neighbouring Makah tribe were disappearing and they suspected his tribe, the Quileutes, for the disappearances knowing they had the power of the spirits. Taha Aki, now too old to change, charged his eldest wolf-son to find who was behind the attacks. Taha Wi took five of the wolf spirit warriors with him to search the mountains for the culprit but sent half the warriors home when the trail they'd followed went too far north. Taha Wi and his two brothers never returned." Billy stopped for another drink, his expression grave. I took notice that the sun was almost set and the fire was the only source of light nearby, I realized I was leaning forwards eager as always to hear more.

Then Billy started where he left off. "When Taha Wi didn't come back, Taha Aki went to the Makah's chief in mourning after long talks the enmity between the tribes ceased. Things had seemed to go back to normal but a year after the loss of Taha Wi the disappearances began once more. The Makah's chief came to ask for the help of Taha Aki's wolf spirit warriors in which Taha Aki was glad to help. This time the search was not in vain, the wolves came upon a strange sight, a man stood in a clearing, skin brilliant white almost like millions of tiny diamonds lay there, crouched over one of the missing women. What troubled them the most was what the creature was doing, he was drinking the blood of the young woman. The warriors tried to attack but he was unlike any other, his eyes crimson, his body harder than stone, speed faster than the eye could see and skin as cold as ice. Only one warrior survived the attack, Yaha Uta, the oldest son of Taha Aki's third wife he brought with him the body of the creature. The elders did not know what to make of the body as time passed the body started to move seemingly trying to reassemble itself, without much deliberation the elders set fire to the body and the ashes were separated into small bags." At the mention of the bag Billy took another pause and reached into his pockets, he pulled out a small leather bag closed by draw strings, the thing had definitely seen better days, the leather was wrinkled with time and the decorative carving was faded in some places.

He looked to us "This is one of the bags handed down to each chief a reminder of these terrible creatures." I couldn't help the goose bumps that appeared on my arms, the thought of what might be in the bag giving me the creeps; Jacob seemed to notice and grinned at me, I'm sure he'd tease me for this one. Billy passed the bag for each of us to look at; I can't say that I really believed that super human remains were in the bag. Once Billy had carefully tucked away the bag he continued. "The elders called the newly discovered species "cold ones" for their unnaturally pale and cold skin. What they did not expect was for the male to have a mate; she came one day to extract her revenge on the villages. In the attack, the last of the wolf spirits Yaha Uta was killed along with many villagers, as the villages last resort Taha Aki used his wolf spirit in order to defend those who were left, his third wife one of them. In his old age, he wasn't nearly as strong as he once was, and he did not expect the strength the female possessed the third wife who'd been watching the struggle knew Taha Aki would not last much longer and she decided to make a sacrifice that saved the surviving villagers. As a last resort, the third wife ran into the fray and stabbed herself in front of the cold one, the smell of the blood was enough to attract the female's attention, thanks to this Taha Aki was able to destroy the cold one but at the cost of his wife. Taha Aki is said to have stayed with his wife for a day in his spirit form and the next day he ran to the forest never to return. Over time, the warriors only changed if cold ones came near the area, but as time passed less and less warriors were needed but it is still in our blood to protect our tribe. The last cold ones to have come near had a treaty made with Ephraim Black stating they had other ways to feed that was safe for humans. There haven't been any more sightings since then."

Billy sat back in his chair as he looked at us, the sky was now black, and clouds hung overhead announcing the rain that was to come, as inevitable as it was. Quil was the first to move, standing and stretching his tired muscles "Well, that was another good legend Billy!" He smiled and looked in our direction, "I've got to get home but I'll see you guys at school tomorrow!" with that he made his way home. Embry soon followed, he had some homework do tomorrow, he was late in his work as usual, just as Embry was out of sight Jake turned to me "So you going to have nightmares tonight?" he asked with that big goofy grin of his. I sighed "I'm not a little kid anymore!" He just laughed at that while getting up off his chair "Come on I'll walk you home!" I got up after him "You know I can walk myself home…" I looked to him and he shrugged "Whatever just hurry up already!"

With that he started walking towards the road I looked over to Billy before turning around "Thanks for telling us another legend Billy! Can't wait to hear another one. I'll see you later!" With a grin, he waved me towards his son who could be seen waiting at the end of the street impatiently, I jogged to catch up. I punched Jacob lightly in the shoulder as we started down the road "You can be so rude sometime!" He looked down at me and grinned "You know you like it…" he teased, I thanked god it was dark out to hide the small blush that was probably on my cheeks right about now, I just snorted "Ya right! You wish! So, do you think that bag is really filled with ashes?" was my reply trying to change the subject. "Nah, their just old tales, most of it is probably made up. Think you can help me with math again tomorrow? We've got that test coming up and I don't understand the material again…" He scratched the back of his head when I looked sidelong at him "You fell asleep in class again, didn't you…" At his guilty nod, I sighed and looked to him again just as we got to my driveway "Fine… I'll help you! Just try and make an effort to listen from now on! Anyway, I'll see you tomorrow." With that I turned and made my way to my house as I got on the porch I turned to the road to see Jake making his way back he turned for a moment and we waved to each other, a ritual we'd become accustomed to as we grew up.

I opened the door to see my dad still sitting on the couch in the living room, today's newspaper lay on his lap and his head was tilted backwards, his glasses near the tip of his nose… he was fast asleep. I small smile tugged at my lips as I walked over and took the newspaper folded it and place it on the coffee table, I shook his shoulder gently and he jump up a little as he woke up. Groggy eyes looked at me "Oh! Hey Hun, how was the bonfire?" He smiled at me as I sat next to him "It was good; Billy told us the story of the third wife… I'll probably have a nightmare!" I said to him eyes wide, he laughed at that knowing full well I was exaggerating. "I think I remember your grandmother mentioning that one, but I never really paid attention…" He shrugged his shoulders "Did Jake walk you home?" He asked, "Yep! Well I'm off to bed dad; I've got school in the morning…" He smiled "Night sweetheart." With that I kissed his cheek, walked to my room, and went to bed. When sleep found me, I dreamt of the third wife's sacrifice.


	3. Chapter 3: Campfire on the Rez

Almost a year had passed since we'd heard the legend of the third wife and things were still the same, school, work and hanging out with the guys. The only new thing in the area was Bella Swan's arrival to Forks, Billy had been helping Charlie cope with the idea that his daughter really was coming to live with him.

Bella had finally arrived a few months ago and had been attending Forks High since then. As a welcome home gift, Charlie had decided to buy Billy's old truck so she'd have a means of transportation, he'd been worried about what she would think about it but shouldn't have worried. When Charlie finally showed it to her she apparently loved it, Charlie had called Billy to let him know of his first success with his daughter, it was kind of funny the way he acted sometimes.

I was currently walking over to my '98 Jeep wrangler my dad had bought me last month for my sixteenth birthday, about to head home from Quil's place when Jake intercepted me as I was about to get in "Hey! Mind if I grab a ride?" he asked, "Of course not! It's not like you live miles away!" I winked, he laughed as he got into the passenger seat. "Hey, you up to go to the beach tonight? A few of the guys are planning to make a bonfire." He asked, looking to me for an answer, unfortunately I'd gotten a call this morning that I had to cover a shift at the store; one of the girls was down with the flu. "Wish I could! I have to work tonight, Marie called in sick this morning and I'm the only one available to cover… But maybe next time, we could go next weekend if it's not raining; I'm not working then…" He looked disappointed "I guess… But it's not supposed to rain tonight! It would have been a good time…"

"Meh, we'll have more sunny days in the future to go to the beach, don't worry about it!" I laughed; he could be a little dramatic sometimes… I drove into the driveway to drop him off, and waved to him as he ran to the house. I headed home for a bite to eat before heading to the corner store; I'd been working there for about a year now, it wasn't the most exciting or high paying job but it gave me a little extra cash.

I got to the store at four forty-five; I still had fifteen minutes before my shift, I always liked to be there early, just in case something happened. As I walked in the store I waved hello to Kate who gave me a brief smile and looked to the costumer she was serving. I made my way to the back room, Lindsey was already there. We'd be spending the shift together, while I didn't mind her, her constant talking could get a little annoying. "Hey Lin, are you ready for a boring night?" I asked, she laughed at that "Every night is boring according to you!" She teased and she was right, at least we had a decent amount of customers during the days but since I mostly had night shifts because of school, I couldn't help it if nothing interesting ever happened.

The night passed as I'd predicted, boring as hell… Lindsey didn't keep her mouth shut for more than a few minutes; 'I swear that girl never runs out of things to talk about!' I thought, and for the hundredth time tonight I wondered how Jake and the boys were doing… 'They're probably having loads of fun while I get stuck behind a counter'. I looked to the clock, and sighed in relief 'Only another ten minutes to go' I look to Lindsey who I believe was talking about her boyfriend… or was it her brother? I couldn't get myself to care at this point.

At nine fifteen I was finally on my way home, I decided to go on and check on Jake, he should've been home by now. I drove into the driveway and as I looked towards the garage I realized that the lights were on, 'Well Jakes home' I though as I parked the Jeep in front of the garage. As I stepped out I could hear the music blasting from the old radio Billy had given us to listen to while we were working.

I walked towards the side door and it was open, I walked in to find all three boys seated around the old truck, Quil looked up a wide smile on his face "Hey Anna Banana!" Embry and Jake looked around and waved, Jake pulled out an old folding chair and set it beside him, "How was work tonight?" Jake asked as I sat down in the chair, "Meh, the usual, it was boring and Lindsey talked my ear off…" Embry snickered from his spot beside me; I turned around and punched him in the shoulder "Hey! That hurt!" He exclaimed, "Pff! You deserved it!" I replied with a smirk, a pout was my only response as he turned around to Jake "So what was that walk with Isabella Swan all about huh? You two looked pretty cozy!" he teased, at this I turned to look in Jakes direction, a light blush was covering his cheeks. I couldn't help the slight pang of jealousy I felt at hearing this, but in the end our friendship was more important, that's what I told myself every time.

"Oh, that… I didn't think you'd noticed…" Jake stuttered, Embry cracked up once more "How could we not notice? Walking down the beach with her, flirting the whole way!" He exclaimed. "Look it wasn't like that! She wanted to know about the Quileute legends… So, I told her the story of the cold ones. I think I freaked her out a little." He chuckled at the thought. "She kept asking why the Cullen's don't come to the rez and of course Sam had to open his big mouth and announce 'The Cullen's don't come here', it seemed to upset her."

That seemed to be the end of that topic for the night, we spent another few hours talking and playing around with the parts we'd found for the Rabbit, once Embry and Quil had gone home Jake and I stayed and kept working, after a while I sat down and watched as he worked on the engine, I must have been deep in thought because he turned suddenly and waved a hand in front of my face. "What are you thinking so hard about?" he asked. I could feel my blood rush to my cheeks, I couldn't just tell him I'd been admiring him, that was bound to be awkward, "Oh, just thinking about that math homework Miss Young assigned…" was my stupid answer, a doubtful look crossed Jakes eyes but he didn't ask any more questions. I chanced a look at the old clock that was hung on the far wall and I jumped in surprise "Jake! I have to get going I'm already a half hour past curfew! Dad is going to kill me!" He looked to the clock and cursed under his breath "Why don't you call and let him know you're staying the night, you know Dad won't mind!" I nodded and pulled out my cell from my sweatshirt pocket.

The call to my dad didn't last long he'd seemed to be expecting it. Once I'd talked to my dad Jake and I went inside and found Billy watching TV, he barely took the time to greet us so he wouldn't miss a second of the game. We went down to Jakes room, I made a stop in his sister's room to grab a set of pajama's I always kept there along with a few changes of clothes. I lay in Jakes bed, staring at his ceiling while he sat in his desk chair swinging back and forth. "So, what do you think of Bella?" I asked, as a good friend I was almost expected to ask the dreaded question. "Bella has really grown since the last time I saw her" Then he gave me that look and I knew that in a matter of hours he had developed a crush on her. "You like her don't you…" I looked to him and just the look on his face was confirmation enough. "She was really nice, real pretty ya know? She said I should go up to visit whenever Billy's over" I had a feeling he was about to go into detail.

It was well past two am when I retired to "My" room, I'd been right when I said Jake was going to talk for a while about Bella. Most girls in my position would have been way past jealous, and although there was always a touch of jealousy I could never resent the girls Jake found an interest in, it just wasn't in my nature. It was another hour before I was able to fall asleep, and when I did all I dreamt about was Jake, standing with his arms around a faceless woman, and as much as I tried to get him to see me all he seemed interested in was the woman, like I didn't matter anymore. I cried and cried but nothing worked, and in my dream, I knew he never would. I woke with a jolt, tears pouring down my face. That was my worst nightmare, not knowing he'd found another woman, but knowing I didn't matter anymore.

After a few weeks, it seemed that Jake's feelings for Bella weren't returned for she had already found someone, and Billy was definitely worried about her decision of dating the youngest Cullen. Jake was mortified of Billy's reaction to the whole situation, Billy's obvious dislike had even gone as far as telling Bella she shouldn't be anywhere near Edward Cullen.

The first month after the news of Bella and the Cullen, as Billy called him, getting together Jake had gotten maddening. He complained about Edward and about Bella being with him how he wasn't good enough for her, it was almost to the point that the guys and I would make excuses for going off our own way. After that month things calmed down and he could finally talk about Bella without mentioning anything negative, he even went to see her when Billy went to watch a game with Charlie.

It was in April when we got the news that Bella had run away from home only to come back "broken and more fragile than ever" as Billy put it. From what I'd heard she had run away because she liked Edward too much and Forks too little. She had found a hotel somewhere near her home and Edward had gone after her, as she was headed to see him she had fallen down a few flights of stairs breaking her leg and getting quite a few cuts and bruises. I heard Charlie mention that she'd been lucky that Dr. Cullen had been there when the incident had happened. Jake had been worried but had yet to visit her, but his long-awaited visit came in the form of Fork High's prom night. Billy had gotten out Jakes most clean and fancy shirt he could find in his closet and an old pair of dress pants Billy had before he'd gained the weight from being in a wheelchair. The tie had to be the ugliest thing to man, it was plaid, purple and green in color and completely not worthy of being around anybody's neck least of all Jakes. I couldn't help but laugh at the first sight of him.

I had volunteered to drive Jake over for a spin to see Bella at the Prom as Billy had suggested but Billy was very insistent on being the one to drive him there. With a shrug of my shoulders I headed off to see Quil and Embry only to find nobody home. 'Guess I'm alone for the next while…' I drove home expecting a lonely few hours but I was surprised when after fifteen minutes of sitting on the couch Jake burst in the house without knocking, face red with anger and embarrassment clear in his gaze, I didn't even get to ask before he burst. "I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!" he cried. "What's wrong Jake? What happened?" I asked startled.

I was starting to get concerned when he didn't answer right away, too upset to talk. "Dad made me go over to Bella and tell her to pretty much break up with Edward! It was beyond embarrassing!" I couldn't believe what I was hearing "But why would you agree to do it?" Even he wasn't that stupid, at my question his face grew a deeper shade of red. "Dad said he'd found the part we need for the Rabbit… He's paid for it and everything, said it was payment for having gotten it…" He plopped down on the couch with a sigh, head in his hands, the tie around his neck crumpled and crooked. And then, I couldn't help it I started laughing; the situation too ridiculous to take seriously. Jake lifted his head and gave me an incredulous look "What's so funny? This isn't funny Anne!" he argued, but I could already see the telltale sign of a smile on his face. It wasn't long before we were both laughing and leaning against each other.

Once our laughter died down we sat next to each other leaning our shoulders together. He looked to me with a crooked smile and my breath caught in my throat, just like it always did when that smile was directed at me. "Thanks Anne, you always know how to make me feel better." He said I just smiled back. He gave me a sudden serious look "Promise we'll always stay like this…" he said, "Like what?" I replied but I already knew the answer to the question "Like now, you made me feel better and made me laugh about something I was upset about at first. I like that we tell each other everything, just promise we'll always be friends." I always loved to hear him say that, and I say that because it wasn't the first time and hopefully it wouldn't be the last. We spent the rest of the day at my place talking about the summer and what we could do to past the time when I didn't have to work.


	4. Chapter 4: Anne's dilemma

Summer came and went without any incidents, September came all too soon and back to school we were. We must have been overdue in the drama department with our summer going so well; I'll always remember the day, a Friday night, when Billy received a call from a panicked Charlie. Bella had disappeared after a visit with Edward; the news didn't seem to surprise Billy as much as I would have thought, almost like he was expecting it. Billy came to tell us the news and of course Jake was the first to volunteer in the search party, I wasn't far behind in offering help, no one should be out in the woods after dark, even when the area is well known.

We met up with Charlie who already had a few officers searching, he was relieved to see us park in the driveway, Sam and his crew had just arrived as well. Sam and a few of the boys headed out with Billy's permission, Charlie seemed worried to watch them go their separate ways but Billy was confident they'd get the job done. Within minutes we were armed with fluorescent vests, flashlights and a walkie-talkie, Jake and I were paired together, our search would start from the side of the house going back to the woods.

We'd been walking and searching the better part of an hour when I noticed Jakes trembling I could tell he was getting desperate to find Bella. I turned to him and placed a hand on his shoulder "Hey, we'll find her okay? She couldn't have gone too far, she's smart, she'll know not to wander." I could see the relief in his eyes; he quickly turned around and embraced me "Thanks, you always seem to know what to say…" he whispered. My heart was pounding as I chuckled "Well I kind of have to, I'm your best friend, aren't I?" I asked, I could feel him smile against my head "Always…" he replied.

I stepped out of his arms and grabbed his hand both our flashlights searching for any sign of the missing girl. It wasn't long after that when we got a call on the radio that she'd been found and was safe at the house. Jake and I hurried back; the news meant instant relief for the both of us, as we got back I could see that the other cop cars had already gone, Sam stood in the driveway with Billy both turned around upon our arrival. Jake was the first to speak "How is she?" I looked from Sam to Billy waiting for a response Billy just shook his head and lead Jake out back, I couldn't help but think the worst.

Sam and I stood there for a moment, I hadn't seen him around for a long while, he used to check up on me once in a while after my running away incident. I couldn't help but feel like there was a gap between us now, like something had happened. "That bad huh? Who found her?" He finally looked my way and nodded "I found her; Cullen abandoned her alone in the forest." I frowned at that "Well, where is he?" I asked. He frowned "They've all left, moved away." Now it was my turn to frown, "But I thought they liked it here… Plus it doesn't mean they won't come and visit." At that a harsh look crossed Sam's face, for the first time I was scared of him "We're better off with them gone" With that he turned and left towards the forest, I was too shocked to reply.

After a few more minutes of waiting I made my way to the back of the house to see how Jake was doing. As I turned the corner I could hear a quiet argument going on between Jake and Billy, as I got closer I was only able to comprehend a few words including _gone_ and _devastated_. I quietly made my way over to the boys; Billy was the first to notice my presence I could see the worry etched on his face I couldn't tell if it was for Bella or for Jakes reaction to the situation. Billy just turned his wheel chair towards the direction of the driveway and nodded to me as I walked by. I made my way to Jakes side and placed my hand on his arm, I waited for him to talk, and it wasn't long before he looked at me. The rage in his eyes was unbelievable "He just left her there…" he trembled as he said this, his voice deadly calm "After he lead her on he just abandoned her!" With that he threw a punch at the nearest tree which conveniently stood right behind us, the tree shook and leaves fell, the wind picking them up and carrying them away. I took a deep breath and grabbed his arm "Look whatever happened in there I'm sure there's an explanation for it, maybe they just moved too far away and he didn't know how else to tell her…" Even as I said this I doubted my words, there was definitely more to the situation than any of us knew.

In the months that came after the incident, Jake started to get a little distant, he'd call Bella's house almost every day never getting any response from Bella. He even went as far as to visit her on occasion but every time he'd come home there was a look of disappointment in his eyes; Bella didn't want to talk to anyone. She'd gone into a depression after being abandoned by the Cullen's, Charlie often came to talk to Billy, although never staying long, afraid of what Bella might do to herself if he left her alone for any length of time. Charlie had even been thinking of sending her away to live with her mother again, but every time he couldn't bring himself to tell her that.

Jake never gave up and I was starting to see him slip away becoming obsessed with saving Bella from her own wrath. Whenever I'd go over I was never able to sooth him or comfort him which was unusual, I hadn't taken his affection for Bella seriously at first and that was probably my first mistake. I turned to Quil and Embry for comfort although this always made Embry feel uncomfortable to my amusement.

It was December when Jake finally started to see that all his effort wasn't getting him anywhere, and then with a final effort in a visit decided to let her come to him whenever she was ready. I wasn't the only one who was relieved with the news both Quil and Embry were happy to see some part of the real Jacob back and so was Billy who'd started to worry.

It was during Christmas vacation that the three of us really got to hang out together, we made an urgent trip to Seattle for last minute Christmas shopping once we got there we went our separate ways and set up a meet up time. To many people, I didn't seem like one to like going shopping but it was something I secretly enjoyed, the one thing I wished I had a real girlfriend for, the boys were great but like all other boys shopping was last on their things to do. The mall in Seattle was lacking but we always made due, I ended up buying new Hoodies for Quil and Embry, I found a new part for Jake but I wanted to find something a little more special for him.

It was at an old antique shop that I found it. It was a thick braided leather bracelet, now I know what you're thinking about, but it really fit him, on the middle length of leather had some tribal engraving in it. It wasn't much but somehow, I knew he'd love it. I asked the old shop owner to wrap it up for me and I headed to our planned meeting place. The boys all had bags so I figured they'd also found what they were looking for after a quick lunch we made our way back to the rez.

Christmas day was going to be special this year, usually dad and I would go over to visit gram but she'd decided to make a trip to see old friends for the holidays. So, this year Dad and I were invited to Jake's house for Christmas diner, I'd been excited ever since I'd heard the news. Jakes present was placed in a brown gift bag, I'd never been very good at wrapping presents, something I'd inherited from my dad since I'd never gotten a wrapped gift since mom had passed away.

Christmas day came quickly, we only had a light dusting of snow on the ground but I couldn't complain as we'd had green Christmases before. Dad and I opened our presents; he'd gotten me a few shirts and an I pod. I'd gotten him a few oldies movies, he was obsessed with old westerns with Clint Eastwood being his favorite actor. So far, my presents were hits, Embry and Quil had both called to wish us a happy Christmas and to thank me for the sweatshirts in turn I thanked them for the nice ear rings they'd bought together.

We made our way to Jake's right before diner; the smell of a nice home cooked meal welcomed us when we walked in. Billy came to greet us at the door "Hey Billy! Smells great! Did Sue cook it?" My dad asked. We all laughed and I elbowed Dad in the side we both knew he was right, sue would sent a turkey and the works for Billy and Jake every Christmas. "Where's Jake?" I asked, Billy smiled "Where do you think?" he responded, without further question I ran to the garage, like expected Jake was sprawled out under the truck, we'd gotten pretty far with the re-build there was only a few more pieces to find to have the finished product.

"Hey!" I yelled Jakes body gave an audible jump and only for him to laugh as he dragged himself out. "Hey", he replied "Just finished putting on the part you got for me!" He smiled. I'd managed to wrap that one although it looked more like a lump than anything. "Thanks, by the way" He said while whipping his hand on a towel "My pleasure" I replied. "I think diners ready, Sue's cooking smells good like always!" I said as we made our way back to the house, "Yeah you know Dad and I can't cook" He smiled. He wasn't joking KD was the only thing the two of them didn't burn, how they lived off that stuff was beyond me!

After diner Jake and I made our way back to the garage to work some more. I held some of the engine pieces and handed some of the needed tools over. "So, when do you think this beauty will be ready for the road?" I asked, Jake shrugged his shoulder before replying "Hard to say, I'm hoping it'll be done in the next couple of months!" He grinned, I knew exactly how he felt about finally having his own ride, I'd been the same before I got the Jeep.

It was getting late when my father called out "Anne! I'm heading home, you coming?" I frowned and looked at the antique clock in the corner it was near midnight "Yeah!" I yelled out so he'd wait for me in the car. Jake and I were now sitting in the truck with empty mugs that had hot chocolate in them about an hour ago. I glanced at Jake and was surprised by the look on his face, he was clearly upset that I was leaving and at this I couldn't help but chuckle "What's so funny?" He asked in a pout "You! You look like I'm leaving you forever!" I was laughing now. I leaned over and hugged him then reached into my jacket pocket which held the small box I'd found for the bracelet I'd bought him "Here!" I handed over the small package, he took it and was about to open it when I said "Wait!" he paused, "I want you to open it when I'm gone…" He looked confused for a moment then shrugged his shoulders and leaned over me to reach into the dash board only to take out a small gift bag and handed it over "I'll wait on mine till you're gone if you open mine when you get home!" I grinned, "Deal!" I grabbed the bag and leaned over once more this time giving him a peck on the cheek "Merry Christmas Jake!" I said as I left the garage.

It wasn't long when I was finally in bed and ready to sleep that I decided to open the present from Jake. I carefully took out the paper and reached inside, my fingers felt a small length of leather and when I pulled the item out I could help but gasp. It seemed that Jake and I had the same train of thought; in my hand, I held a bracelet made of leather strings and in the middle, there was a small dream catcher with a green bead in it, my favorite color, and a small heart attached made for charm bracelets. I recognized it as Jake's mothers, Jake had showed me the old charm bracelet his mother used to wear to special occasions, Billy had told us that it had been passed down for a couple generations.

I quickly placed it on my wrist only realizing then that there were also two small silver beads on each side of the catcher, one held a crescent moon and the other a lone wolf howling. "Oh Jake," I smiled; of course, he knew my love of the legends and anything wolves. I lay in bed admiring my new favorite piece of jewelry before taking it off and placing it on my bedside table so I wouldn't ruin it. I'd have to give Jake a million thanks for this special gift.


	5. Chapter 5: Unexpected Friendship

It was a couple days before I saw Jake again; I'd gotten extra shifts at the store during the holidays to make a little extra cash. I'd seen him in passing and jumped on his back giving him the biggest bear hug ever as a thank you for my present, which I'd worn every day since. Embry and Quil had laughed at his embarrassment but I was too happy to care.

A few days after New Year's I headed over to Jakes to work on the Rabbit, he'd gotten some new parts from Billy and was eager to place them in the appropriate spots. There was a small sunny break in the clouds so I decided to walk on over and enjoy nature while I could, the walk over was short but got me the fresh air I needed. When I got to the house I noticed an old red truck I recognized as Billy's old truck that he'd sold to Charlie for Bella's welcome gift. I frowned; maybe Charlie borrowed it to come over? I shrugged my shoulders and kept walking to the garage, as I opened the door I heard a giggle, again, I was confused; Jake didn't often have girls over when he invited me to come over. I prepared myself to have to leave any minute but as I walked in completely I saw Jake sitting on an old bucket, the truck door was open and I could see legs hanging from the bottom.

Jake turned when he heard me "Hey Anne!" He smiled, I hadn't seen him this excited in a while. "Hey," I replied "Who's this?" I asked curious as to who would have Jake smiling like a goof. Just as I asked, out jumped Bella Swan, she looked reluctant when she looked at me but then seemed to shake it off and walked closer "Hi, I'm Bella" she said, as she stretched out her hand. I shook it answering "Anne…" She seemed to sense my unease "Well I guess I should be going then, I didn't know Jake was having company" Jake frowned at this so I decided to be mature and leave my sense of unease behind me "Oh no!" I said quickly before she could leave, "I don't mind I'm usually only watching any way. It'd be nice to have someone to talk to for once!" Okay maybe I was trying to be a little too chipper but it seemed to work, Bella shrugged and smiled at me before we both made our way back towards Jake who's smile was once more glued to his face.

With that, we pulled up more chairs so Bella and I could sit and chat while Jake worked away on the Rabbit. I'd occasionally get up to grab tools he'd forgotten to bring over to the cab of the truck. All in all, I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked Bella. She was sullen here and there but seemed to snap out of it when we chatted together. After a short while Jake left to go grab a few drinks and snacks to eat from the house leaving Bella and I alone for the first time.

After a few moments Bella looked at me with a small smile and asked "So how long have the two of you been friends?" I smiled back at her "Jake and I have been friends since we were nine, I guess it's been a long time now!" I laughed, she joined. I looked at her and knowing she'd moved from Arizona I asked "Do you miss any of your friends from Arizona?" She smiled a little and shook her head "I didn't have many friends in Arizona, it was mostly me and my mom, her I miss a lot… Out of anyone she's my best friend, a little out there but she's the best." I smiled back "You're lucky, your mom sounds like a lot of fun… I barely remember my mom now days, dad and I look at photo albums once a year when we visit my grandmother but it's not quite the same…" I sighed then chuckled as I looked at her "Let's talk about something else, Jake tells me you're great at science, a subject I occasionally struggle with… What do you think of helping us with our school work sometimes? I know you're a year ahead but I can try to return the favor with some of your subject!" Bella looked surprised at the indication of me wanting to spend more time with her, but this thankfully seemed to be a welcomed thought as she smiled almost as brightly as she did for Jake and nodded her head "I'd love to" She replied just as Jake arrived with food and drinks. I looked at him and exclaimed "We have a new study buddy!" Jake gave out a loud groan but the smile on his face indicated he definitely liked the idea of seeing Bella more often.

A few weeks went by things were back to normal with the added presence of Bella occasionally visiting Jake or Jake and I down at the Rez. I was sitting on the couch with my dad one evening when I got a call from a number I didn't recognize, when I answered Bella was on the other line. "Hi Anne, sorry to call unexpectedly, Jake gave me your number and I wanted to ask if you wanted to go for a short evening trip to Port Angeles for a girls' night with me tomorrow? I'll understand if you can't make it… It's a little last minute…" She chuckled, I looked at my dad in surprise, he was clueless as to what was going on "Well I don't have work tomorrow evening, let me just check in with my dad" I responded, she quickly agreed. I placed the mouth piece of the phone down and looked at dad "Hey, could I go up to Port Angeles with Bella for a girls' night?" My dad looked a little taken aback, I'd never once gone out willingly or ever with girls before, he recovered quickly thankfully and nodded his ascent with a smile. I brought my phone back up to my ear "Hey Bella? Yeah, I'm a go for tomorrow! I'll drive up to your place and we can leave a vehicle there. What time would you like me to meet you?" I asked "Hmmm, why don't you drive up after school? We can grab something to eat on the way up, it'll give us a bit more time in the shops." She stated. After finalizing the plans, I went to bed slightly nervous at the thought of hanging out alone with Bella, we got along great but we'd never hung out just the two of us and for myself I'd sadly never hung out with other girls in general without the guys being around. This could get interesting…

The next evening after school, I drove over to the Swan's residence, Bella's truck was already in the driveway and the police cruiser was missing. Charlie must've been working that evening or he was out fishing with some friends. I knocked on the door and heard footsteps running down a stair case before the door opened revealing Bella, looking nice as usual, she definitely had a natural beauty going on about her, no wonder the youngest Cullen and Jake are head over heels for her. I choked down the last of my nervousness and looked at her "Hey, you ready to go?" I asked, she smiled and nodded as she turned for a moment grabbing a small over the shoulder purse. "Yeah let's go, mind if we take my truck?" She asked and I shook my head "Not at all!" I smiled and we walked to the truck getting in.

The drive to Port Angeles was done mostly in comfortable silence, it was nice not having to worry about talking with Bella, even with my initial nervousness of the whole ordeal. We stopped and grabbed burgers on the way and made it there early enough that all the shops were still open for business. We hopped out of the truck after parking and I looked to Bella "So what now? I don't really go shopping often so I wouldn't be able to tell you which stores are any good…" I said as I looked around already a little lost as to what to do. Bella didn't seem to mind though "Don't worry Anne, I've been here a few times last year, I can get us into a few clothing stores that actually have nice things." She said with a small smile, she then looked at me as if really noticing what I was wearing for the first time, I'd worn my usual attire of too big jeans with rips at the knees and an oversized stained with grease and motor oil sweater, and gave me a knowing grin "Actually I don't need much for clothes, but how about we get you some clothes that actually fit? No offense, but I think most of your clothes have seen better days…" She smiled.

I think Bella is probably the only girl who has ever told me 'No offense' and actually meant it, most times I was definitely offended by whatever the other girl was about to say, it may have also been that I agreed with Bella on this. I just didn't really have a sense of style and the boys weren't exactly shoppers… With that I looked at her and nodded "Sure, I have been in need of new clothes for a while now" I laughed. Without more prompting Bella gently grabbed my arm and we made our way to the multiple clothes store down the way.

We were in our third store when I finally asked a question that had been bothering me since last night "So Bella, what brought you to ask me to go shopping?" I asked, she looked at me with slight embarrassment "Well, Charlie is happy that I've been out of the house more but wanted me to hang out with someone other than Jake for once… I didn't want to invite the girls from school, we're not exactly on the best of terms right now… And besides I like and get along with you so I thought there was hopefully a chance you'd join me. I hope you don't mind, I do consider you a friend." She smiled shyly. I couldn't help but feel happy, even if it was Charlie who'd requested she leave the house, the fact she considered be a friend was greater than I thought it would be. "I don't mind at all" I responded "It's actually nice to have a girlfriend honestly" I added. We talked and shopped some more then took a quick coffee break.

We were walking down the street after having brought back the shopping bags to the truck, a few of the stores where starting to close and we both knew we probably only had another couple hours in town. So far I'd bought three pairs of blue skinny jeans and one in black, a new fitted faux leather jacket and a few flowy short sleeves and tanks. The only thing I fought back a little on was a pink skater dress, according to Bella all girls should have a dress and although the color wasn't my favorite it was the one that was the simplest design and matched with my new pair of black chucks.

We had walked a few ways when we walked by a late-night hair salon, Bella looked in for a moment then looked at me again, my long hair was down for once and hung almost to my waist. I looked down and realized where her thoughts were going… "I'm not sure about what you're thinking Bella…" I grabbed my hair, as if to save it. Bella smiled "You don't have to but I think you'd look amazing with shorter hair!" I looked at the ends of my hair, most of them split or broken off. I hadn't had a hair cut in a long time and to be honest it looked a little ratty even to me… I took a deep breath in and looked into the salon, with an uncertain step towards the entrance I stated "Alright! Let's do it!" With a laugh Bella grabbed my arm as we made our way in.

As we stepped into the salon a beautiful older Latin-American woman walked over to welcome us with a nice smile on her face. "Hi ladies, how can we help you tonight?" she asked, Bella stepped forward with a small smile "Well my friend here was wondering if you had time to do her hair this evening?" I shyly stepped a little closer with a small smile. The woman stepped closer and with permission grabbed a piece of my hair then looked at me "Dear, when was the last time you had your hair done?" she asked. Embarrassed I looked at Bella then back to her "A couple years… my dad just trimmed the ends that time…" I said. The woman looked at me in shock "Well now that won't do, lucky for you my last appointment cancelled on me so I'm free now! Let's get you looking gorgeous!" She turned and brought us to her chair by the back and got a small stool for Bella to perch on. I sat down and before the woman placed the cape on me she shook our hands "Ladies, let me introduce myself, my names Gabriella and welcome to my salon!" Bella and I smiled "Hi my name's Anne and this here is my friend Bella, thank you for taking me in last minute!" I said. Gabriella nodded with a smile and got behind the chair flicking my hair forward in front of my shoulders "So, how short were we thinking?" She grabbed a strand of hair and examined it before continuing "Dear, I think we're going to have to cut it fairly short if were looking to make it healthy again…" She looked at me through the mirror as I looked over to Bella who shrugged "Honestly I think you'd look cute with shorter hair!" She stated, Gabriella nodded her head in agreeance. I looked at myself in the mirror and shrugged, I wasn't completely attached to my hair. Most days my hair was in a ponytail anyway. With a deep breath, I looked to Gabriella and said "Know what, sure go ahead! So long as it's something easy to maintain" She looked at me and my hair for another moment the nodded "I know the perfect hair cut! Why don't I turn the chair around and make it a surprise!" She smiled. I looked to Bella and shrugged, I just hoped Bella would hint if things weren't looking good. As the chair turned the work began.

All in all, it took approximately an hour from start to finish. Gabriella asked where we were from, what school we were in, if we were dating. After the look on Bella's face with that last question she restrained from talking about boys and kept it to simple subjects about classes and what we got up to on our free time. Before Gabriella turned the chair to show me my much lighter hair as shed taken off a good five or more inches in length, she came over with a something small in her hand and showed it to me. "This," She pointed "Is mascara, you're a very pretty girl and you don't really need makeup but this is simple and will make your eyes pop! Especially where your lashes are blonde." She then showed me how to go about applying the mascara, luckily it was simple enough and finally she turned by chair around to face the large mirror.

When I first saw myself in the mirror I was a little in shock, the girl looking at me in the mirror wore the same clothes but looked completely different! My hair was now cut in a reverse bob and had more volume than I ever knew it could have, and my eyes looked wider, framed by now dark lashes. For the first time, I thought I actually looked kind of pretty and feminine, it was a different but nice feeling… Bella was grinning at me "You look amazing! Super pretty!" she said with a small laugh and I joined her along with Gabriella. I grinned at the two of them "I can't wait to show everyone!" We laughed again, Bella and I walked to the register where I paid for the services including the mascara. Finally, we ended the night and made our way back home. To say my dad was shocked with my hair was an understatement but he actually seemed to like it, that made me excited to show everyone at school the next day along with my new clothes.

The next morning, I got dressed in my black skinny jeans, off the shoulder white flowy tee shirt, chucks and my new jacket. I applied the mascara as I'd been shown and washed and dried my hair, thankfully my hair was naturally straight and had no need for products or straighteners. I took one last look in the mirror smiled nervously and made my way to school. When I arrived and got out of the Jeep, I noticed a few people point and look at me. A few of the seniors even passed and gave me appreciative looks, something that never would have happened before today. With a little more confidence, I held my head up and made for the entrance where the guys usually waited for me.

As expected I saw Embry, Jake and Quil by the main entrance waiting for me. Jake had his back to me and Quil seemed to be scanning the small crowd of students for me. I grinned a little as I made my way over. Quil still didn't notice me until I was practically next to them and when he did he had to look twice. "Anne!" he exclaimed, with that Embry and Jake turned to me with expressions of disbelief. Quil seemed to recover first "Wow, Anne you look great! What brought all this on?" He asked. Embry after a moment also seemed to get back to normal "Wow Anne, who knew you were a girl?!" He laughed, I punched him on the shoulder for that one as we laughed and I turned to Jake grinning. Jake unlike the others was frowning and not saying anything. I was kind of confused, I hadn't thought too much about what they would think until now. I looked at the three of them and said "Well, Bella took me shopping yesterday, I decided I needed a little face lift!" I waited for Jake to talk as Quil and Embry had already commented and seemed to like the new look, I was again disappointed when Jake just shrugged and frowned some more. "Well, what do you think?" I asked finally.

His answer was in my opinion the worst I probably would have expected "Honestly I don't like it… Why did you have to change you were fine the way you were before!" He exclaimed, I felt a pang in my chest as he said this and looked down to hide the slight watering of my eyes. Quil and Embry stepped forward angrily "What the hell dude! She looks great! Why are you being down on her?" Embry asked angrily, when I looked up he was the angriest I'd ever seen him. Embry was known to have the occasional bad temper but the look on his face was beyond anything I'd ever witnessed. Jake just shrugged as he seemed to realize what he'd said was hurtful but like most guys he just seemed to make things a little worst for himself… "Well! Look at her! She doesn't even look like herself anymore!"

That, according to Embry's follow up reaction, was not the right thing to say as he grabbed Jake by the shirt and threw him against the wall of the school keeping him up with his weight. I gasped as Quil and I looked at each other and rushed on either side of the two trying to get Embry off of Jake. "Embry calm down! It's really not a big deal! It doesn't matter what he thinks because I love it!" I yelled. Jake was also struggling to get Embry off and cursing along the way "Damn it Embry get off! I'm sorry okay! Geez!" he yelled. Finally, after a few more moments struggle Embry seemed to snap out of it and backed off. He looked a little shocked himself at his violent reaction. He looked at Jake a moment then at me "Gosh… Sorry… I don't know what got over me…" He stumbled back a few more steps. Jake shook off his clothes and shook his head "Nah man, I shouldn't have said that…" He looked at me once more before making his way into the school. Embry on the other hand seemed feverish all of a sudden, I walked to him and touched his fore head "Embry you're burning up! Are you feeling okay?" I asked a little worried for him. He shook his head and shrugged "Actually I don't really feel too good, I think I'm gonna head home and rest" Quil and I nodded "Want one of us to drive you home?" I asked but he just shook his head "Nah, I'll be fine. I'll see you guys tomorrow…" He turned around and started walking away. "We'll let the teachers know you've gone home sick!" Quil yelled after him. Embry lifted his arm in a salute and drove off. We looked at each other, shrugged and made our way to our first class.

That was the last we saw of Embry for a while.

It took a few days for Jake to cool off to talk to me normally, things finally going to normal when he seemed to accept the changes I'd made to myself. What worried me though, was that we hadn't seen Embry since that day at school. His mom had been telling us that he just had the flu and because it's very contagious we couldn't go over to visit. When we mentioned it to Billy he seemed unconcerned which soothed us for a little while at least.

A few weeks later Jake and I were working on the Rabbit again, Jake was shimmied under the lifted truck working on the underside and I sat on the floor next to him to hand him the tools as was our routine. We'd been at it for a while when Quil burst into the garage suddenly, face red and storming over to us. The sudden noise must have startled Jake as I heard a bang and a curse, I was proven right when Jake came out from under the truck rubbing his head. He looked at Quil and sais "What the hell dude!" he kept rubbing his forehead as he groaned. Finally, I asked Quil "What's going on? You seem upset!" Quil paced around for a moment then looked at the both of us frustrated "Well I saw Embry today… He's been hanging out with Sam's gang this whole time!" he growled. I looked between Quil and Jake shocked. "What do you mean?" I asked. "Just that! I saw them hanging out together today and when I went over Embry completely ignored me and said not to concern ourselves with him anymore!" He paced some more before continuing "He's joined their gang! I just don't know how they did it… We've been warned away from them, I just never thought he'd ever go there!" He finally stopped and looked at us. "I'm sure there's an explanation… I mean he's been sick maybe Sam and them helped him out? Honestly, I don't believe Sam is bad, I've known him for a while… He helped save me and Bella remember?" I said. Jake and Quil did not have the same opinion I did if their expressions were anything to go by… I sighed because even I had to admit it was a little fishy that Embry would be hanging out with that "gang". Jake also seemed upset about the whole thing, we'd talked about it daily since Embry had left school. Jake shook his head "Maybe he just needs time…" I looked at Jake a little shocked he was usually the one who came to conclusions first and thought later, seemed Quil and Jake had momentarily changed personalities. "Yeah, well, I hope he doesn't need too much time!" Quil stated as he dropped into a chair.

Unfortunately, our hopes for Embry to join us again were never answered…

More weeks had gone by without any signs of Embry, Jake and I were finally spending what was now rare quality time together just the two of us. For once we were taking a break from working on the truck and sat around the camp fire in the back yard. It wasn't long though before our time together was interrupted by a truck coming up the driveway. Bella parked the truck close to the house and hopped out, what got our attention was the tarp that was wrapped over something in the back of the truck. Jake of course jumped right up and ran to greet her, I sighed, resigned and got up to join them.

As I got closer Jake took off the tarp and revealed two old motocross bikes, they were in poor shape but for how old they looked they didn't seem to have much rust. Bella grinned when she saw me, I smiled back at her as I asked "You starting a new sport?" She laughed a little and nodded "Yeah, thought I'd try something new, add a little dare devil into my life!" Jake shook his head at that but grinned either way as he unloaded what were mostly the shells of two dirt bikes. As Jake brought the bikes into the garage Bella and I chatted a few moments before Jake came jogging back "Alright Bella, why don't we head out to grab some parts for those things?" He said. Bella grinned and nodded but then looked at me "Actually, why don't we go another time… I don't have the space to sit three people comfortably in the truck." She said, Jake shrugged and looked at me "Anne won't mind, right?" He asked. The fact was I did kind of mind, we hadn't gotten to hang out together in so long that is really was disappointing to have that time interrupted. Bella looked at Jake again "Well that's not fair, you guys were hanging out, I don't want to interrupt that" she said looking at me for a moment. Defeated I sighed and shrugged "Don't worry about it, I was going to head home soon anyway" I said with a smile, Bella looked unconvinced but Jake jumped at this "Great! Let's get going then!" He said as he grinned and hopped into the truck without so much as a backward glance. Bella looked at me once more as if to say 'Are you sure?' and I nodded. I guess that's just how things were going to be from now on, I guess I had to accept that fact somehow.

As they drove out of the driveway I couldn't help to feel that pang in my chest, I'd been feeling that quite often lately. Hopefully it would go away someday soon…


	6. Chapter 6: Anne's Frustration

It had been another while since Embry's sudden disappearance in our lives and nothing had changed, each time anyone of us tried to talk to him he either ignored us and walked off with Sam and his growing gang or just glared at us. He'd grown too, a growth spurt didn't even describe his height, he was probably well past six feet tall now when a couple months ago he may have been a good half a foot shorter. He'd also buffed up, Jake and Quil both agreed all of them must be on steroids as none of them were slim but in my mind even steroids didn't make that big of a change that fast. School had become a little depressing without him to make fun of and to laugh with, really most of the time it was just Quil and I now, Jake wanting his alone time with Bella. Bella and I were friends now, I had her to thank for my new look and she often invited me to hang out with them Quil too although he was too shy to talk to her most of the time. Lately I'd taken to stick with Quil, though I wanted to hang out with Bella, that often included having Jake around and then feeling left out despite Bella's best efforts.

It was February nineteenth today also known as my birthday, I'd gotten the evening off work and both Quil and Jake had said they'd bring me to the diner in forks for the occasion. I was excited! I'd get to spend some quality time with "my boys" as I often called them to embarrass them at school. Jake had invited Bella which I was fine with but she'd already had plans for that night, Jake was a little disappointed at the time but seemed to forget about it. I was excited to finally spend time just the three of us together without Jakes attention completely on Bella the whole time. I'd just dropped off Quil at home to change while I went home to do the same, when we had looked for Jake at the end of school he'd already left for home. Both of us had shrugged it off, he'd meet us at the restaurant.

About half an hour after I'd gotten home I heard a honk outside and hurried down the stairs to the door expecting to see Jake but instead found Quil waiting for me grinning inside of his grandfather's truck, I laughed at the sight, it wasn't often his family let him borrow the vehicles. I climbed into the passenger side and buckled my seat belt while greeting my smiling friend "Well aren't you just a ray of sunshine!" I exclaimed and laughed. "Hey! You'd be smiling just as big if you didn't have a vehicle" he replied and I've got to admit he was right. "Alright! Are we picking up Jake?" I asked, Quil shrugged his shoulders "Donno..." He said "I actually haven't seen him around all day except in class, we'll swing by and see". When we got there Billy said Jake had already left thinking he'd meet us there, we left for the restaurant.

When we finally arrived at the restaurant I couldn't see Billy's truck anywhere indicating that Jake wasn't there just yet, both of us shrugged it off and went in to find a table. We'd ordered our food and still no sign of Jake, poor Quil was trying every possible excuse for him in the book but I'd already realized that Jake wasn't going to make it. "So, what do you think about Sam's little gang?" I asked trying to change the subject. Quill sighed "I don't know… Seems suspicious, some of the guys at school think they're doing drugs but I just can't believe Embry would go for that…" I frowned. Quil was right, it wasn't like Embry to leave us for something as pathetic as drugs but it wasn't off my list. "Yeah… And no one can get close to them except Kim and Emily for some reason but that could just be because they're going out with Sam and Jared." Quil shrugged not sure what to make of any of it either. At seven Quil and I left the restaurant and he dropped me off home after a birthday hug.

I walked into an empty house; dad was gone on a weekend trip for work. We'd already celebrated together earlier in the week but I still felt lonely. I'd just put away my handbag when the phone rang, I ran over to answer it "Hello?" I said into the receiver "Hey!" I immediately recognized the voice "Hey Jake! What's up?" I asked, maybe he was calling to apologize! "Nothing much I was wondering if you'd be able to come over for a little bit? I need help with something" I couldn't help the bubble of happiness that consumed my stomach "Sure!" I answered right away "I'll be right there!" I hung up the phone grabbed my keys and ran out the door. I drove over since it was raining again also because it would be much faster to get there.

When I got to Jake's I was expecting the lights to be on in the garage but the only sign of life was in the house so I ran over to the door, not really bothering to knock I walked in, it had been this way for years. "Honey I'm home!" I yelled I heard Billy's laughter from the living room so I made my way there "Hey Billy! How's it going?" I asked. He smiled warmly up at me "Nothing much haven't been seeing you as much lately" I shrugged and laughed "I've been keeping busy I guess!" We laughed at that though Billy seemed to give me a sad knowing grin "Jake's just in his room if you want to go ahead, he seemed excited about something, might have to do with the reason he was late to diner." I frowned "Oh, Jake didn't show actually…" A frown marred Billy's face, "Well whatever it is hope it was worth it… Happy Birthday by the way!" He patted my arm I hugged him thanks and made my way towards Jakes room.

My first impression upon entering the room was that there must've been a tornado or something. I'd never seen Jacobs room in such a mess, I mean he's not clean but not a slob either. I peeked in and found said boy crouched in his closet digging for something. I knocked on his door and walked in, I sat on the bed waiting for a response. "Jake?" I questioned, this seemed to make him jump, he turned around half surprised to see me. "Finally, my saviour!" He exclaimed while grabbing me in a hug. This took me by surprise I had no idea what was going on but my curiosity was starting to get the better of me. "Woah!" I exclaimed laughing "What's going on? I thought you needed help with the Rabbit?" He then proceeded to place me down a huge grin on his face "Actually Bella and I finished it the other day! She bought me the last few missing parts! Can you believe it?" I felt like a bucket of water had been dumped on me 'But we were going to finish it together, I bought him those parts just the other day' Said parts were still in a bag on our porch. "Oh…" was all I could say as I sat back down on the bed in disbelief.

My lack of enthusiasm usually would have perked his curiosity but tonight he couldn't seem to stay still. "What's going on?" I asked again less enthused. He seemed to remember the reason for my being there and said "I need an outfit!" he looked at me as if it wasn't obvious 'Okay… well that was helpful' I thought "An outfit for what?" I asked now confused as to what was going on "Well Bella invited me to the movies with some of her friends from school! I want to make a good impression and maybe even ask her out or something…" He kept going on but I'd completely stopped listening as I heard this. "Wait!" I interrupted him mid-sentence on something about pants "Where were you after school?" I asked, not sure I'd like the answer. "Oh! I was at Bella's I needed help with some homework and she offered to help me yesterday!" He said as he kept picking up several pieces of clothing then throwing them this way and that 'explains the mess' I thought sarcastically. But no matter how sarcastic I was trying to be I was absolutely fuming, I'd had enough of this shit! I grabbed a pair of dark jean and a white wife beater with a checked cotton long sleeved shirt then proceeded to throw them in his face "Here!" I yelled and stomped to his door only to have him grab my arm 'Finally noticed my mood I see!' I thought "What in the world is wrong with you!" He asked in a frustrated tone. I froze what was mere anger a moment ago was now boiling hot rage as I turned "What's wrong with me?!" I yelled "My best friend dumps me on a dinner date for my birthday to tell me he left to study?!" I kept going "On top of that the Rabbit is done? I bought you those parts last week and you said we'd finish it together! Now I have to pick out your clothes? I REFUSE TO BE USED LIKE THIS!" I screamed and without waiting for a reply or looking at him I left the house with a quick goodbye to Billy. I sped home and once I'd parked the jeep in my driveway the first tear fell, then another and after that I was sobbing on my steering wheel.

**Jake's POV**

I was shocked; I'd just watched my best friend stomp out the door. I hadn't seen Anne this upset since we were kids… I couldn't see why she wasn't happy that I was going out with Bella… I took a moment to rewind my thoughts and what Anne had just said to me. So what if I forgot that she'd bought the parts? But at the same time, we'd been working on it together since forever, really though, I thought she'd be happy… then it dawned on me what the first part of her sentence had been… Her birthday… "Shit!" I cursed, I'd completely forgotten! How in the world could I forget! And all I'd been talking about was the movies with Bella… I groaned 'I've got a lot of groveling to do!' I thought to myself cursing again for good measure.

I sat on my bed for a moment when I heard dad's wheel chair coming towards my room. It wasn't long before he sat at my doorway. "Son, I know you're happy to see Bella back to her old self, and so am I." He paused "But, you've been pushing Anne and Quil away, and from what I just heard you've really hurt her feelings." Of course, his dad would make him feel worse about it… "Look I know okay!" I growled out. "So, what are you going to do about it?" He asked, I shook my head "Look I have to get ready to go get Bella; I'll talk to her tomorrow!" with that I grabbed my things coincidentally those Anne had thrown at me and turned away. Dad wheeled himself around and was about to leave before he said one more thing "I just hope you don't regret your decision…" With that he was gone to the living room again. 'I'll make sure to talk to Anne tomorrow' I thought, all this frustration was ridiculous, I was also starting to overheat for some reason 'must be catching something...' I thought then shrugged it off and left to the Swan's residence. If only I'd known how wrong I was…


	7. Chapter 7: Phone Call

I woke up the next morning exhausted, puffy eyed and sniffly. The alarm on the side of my bed indicated that I'd slept for longer than usual though it was no surprise as it was way past midnight before I could fall asleep… I dragged my hand across my face and sighed, I laid there a few more moments getting the courage to get my butt out of bed. When I was finally up I grabbed an old pair of sweats and put them on with a baggy tee 'Not like anyone is gonna see me today' I thought. I made my way to the bathroom and looked into the mirror. The image staring at me was actually kind of comical, my hair was up and pointing every which way, the mascara that I hadn't washed off was smudged under my eyes, tear stains clearing a few paths through it. With another long sigh I chuckled at how ridiculous I looked and proceeded to get myself looking somewhat human again.

It was well past noon when I got the call, at first, I thought for sure it was Jake trying to call and apologies 'Good luck with that…' I thought a little unkindly though I did feel he deserved it. Without looking at the caller ID I answered the phone, the voice on the other end caught me by surprise "Hi Anne, I wasn't sure you'd be home…I called your cell but it must be turned off…" Bella said I frowned confused for a moment before remembering turning it off to avoid Jake for a bit "Yeah, sorry about that. I don't usually turn it off… What's up?" I asked. It took her a moment to respond which had me a little confused "I was wondering how Jake was, he left suddenly last night with a high fever… I tried calling him but Billy just says he has the flu and can't have any visitors right now…" I frowned a little worried now. "Huh… I actually haven't heard from Jake since last night before your movie night…" I opened up my phone but had no missed calls or texts. "Anne, I'm really worried… He really didn't look good when he drove off... He was supposed to call me to let me know he'd made it home but I haven't heard a word." Bella sounded a little panicked as she said this, whatever was wrong with Jake must've been serious if she was reacting like this. "Okay Bella, how about I go over and check it out myself? I'll call you as soon as I know more okay?" I asked. "Yeah" She said "That sounds good, you know them better than I do, you'll have a better chance at talking to him." She finished. "Alright, I'll call you as soon as I know more" I finished and ended the call.

It didn't take long for me to change and head over to Jake's house. I stepped up to the door and turned the handle to walk in as was my routine, the odd thing was that the door, I think for the first time I could remember, was locked. I frowned at the door for a moment and finally, resigned, I knocked. It took a few moments before the door unlocked and opened by a few inches, I went to push the door a wider to walk in but Billy's hand stopped the door from opening more than a foot. I looked at Billy in surprise but shook it off "Hey Billy, Jake home?" I asked, I smiled at him but it wasn't returned. "Sorry Anne, Jake's really sick right now, no one can see him at the moment. Contagious…" He trailed off. I laughed a little "It's alright Billy, I'm sure it's fine! I mean I saw him yesterday if I'm to get it it's probably too late to stop it." I said but the frown on Billy's face didn't budge. "I'm sorry Anne but you really can't be here right now, it's best you leave. Jakes not going to be able to see you for a while now." He said and started closing the door. I stopped the door from closing the whole way "Billy, what's going on? Is Jake okay?!" I asked, getting a little panicked but the door just kept shutting and before it closed completely I heard Billy say "Look Jake will be fine eventually but not for a good long while. Best you not come around anymore…" I stood in front of the door in complete shock for a few minutes.

After another moment, I ran off the porch and went around to Jake's window which was always unlocked in case we wanted to sneak around together. When I got there the blinds were closed tight and the window was as locked as the front door. I knocked lightly on the window as to not alert Billy what I was up to "Jake!" I whispered as loudly as I dared, I tried multiple times but got no response… I stomped my foot on the ground and walked to the window of the room I often used but the window had also been locked there too. "Urgh!" I growled, finally giving up and going home. Once home I called Jake's number a few times but the line just went to voice mail each time. I angrily threw my phone onto my bed after finally losing patience, I sat down a few moments before picking up my phone again and calling Bella with the bad news.

A few weeks went by with no news on Jake. Bella and I had both gone over a few more times insistently but the results were always the same, even Quil wasn't able to get into contact with Jake either… I'd even resorted to sending our dads over to talk to Billy but he only got the same response we did, Jake was sick and no visitors were allowed. Billy was even going as far as no longer watching the games or going out fishing with the men. After that attempt, we frustratingly gave up though Bella kept hope that things would change and Jake would get better sooner rather than later.

Bella and I had been hanging out on weekends and studying together a few evenings a week. This Saturday Bella and I were sitting on her couch after a small study session, the day was warm for once and we were both starting to sweat while doing absolutely nothing. Bella looked over suddenly and smiled "Hey, what do you think of cliff diving?" She asked I shrugged "I've been out a few times at the rez, it would cool us off a bit" I smiled, she returned the smile and hopped up "Great! Want to head there now?" she asked, I laughed at her sudden enthusiasm and nodded "Let me go change and we'll stop by your place to get your things" she said as she made her way up to her room. I went to the door and put on my shoes as I waited for Bella to get ready. As soon as she was down we left for my place.

When we got to the cliffs we left our dry clothed in the truck and grabbed out towels and started walking up the side of the cliff. When we got to the mid height cliffs I started down the small trail that led to the safe jumping point. After a few meters in I looked back and realized Bella wasn't following "Aren't you coming?" I yelled out at her, she looked out at the water almost confused "Aren't we going all the way up?" She asked. I shook my head "I've never jumped any higher than this point, it's dangerous to jump from any higher" I said, she was confused again "But I've seen a group of boys jump from the top before when Jake and I came up for a drive. Looked safe enough to me!" She replied. I was surprised at this; the top of the cliff really couldn't be safe to jump off of… though if people had done it I wasn't completely opposed at checking it out. "Alright, let's check it out but if I feel it's not safe we're coming back here to jump off" I resigned. Bella hopped a little in excitement which was nice to see for once and we made our way to the top.

When we made it to the top of the cliffs, I looked down towards the water. The height was honestly ridiculous, I looked over to Bella and I wasn't sure I liked the look on her face. The complete look of obsessive determination surprised me, she looked over "This is perfect!" she said, again I was a little taken aback "Bella, this is dangerous, I really don't think we should jump from here… This is way too high and the current seems strong, it could trap us under the water." I told her. She just shook her head and laughed a little "Don't worry I'm sure it's safe, people wouldn't jump here if it wasn't" She had a bit of a point there… 'Shoot' I thought feeling uncomfortable, still but I was probably overthinking things.

Just as we were getting ready to make the plunge, a dark figure appeared in the line of trees backing the cliffs. When I looked closer Qui Sr. walked out of the forest 'What is he doing here?' I thought. I looked at Bella and shrugged "Hold on a sec, that's Quil's grandfather. I'm just going to make sure everything's alright" I told her, she shrugged as well before I made my way over to where Qui's grandfather stood, walking stick in hand. "Hi!" I greeted him with a smile, he in turn looked over towards the cliffs and Bella solemnly "Anne, I hope you weren't planning on diving here… You know it's not safe, better to take your friend and go down to the safe zones… Or better yet head on home, the weather's about to turn around…" he said. I looked over the horizon in surprise and noticed the angry clouds that were gathering along the coast. Just like usual the unpredictable weather was interfering with plans but I'd gotten used to it a long time ago. I nodded to Quil Sr. "Yeah, things aren't looking too good are they?" I answered, he nodded before I continued "Alright, we'll head home then, nice to see you again! If you see Quil tell him I'll call him later!" I said as I ran back towards Bella. When I got to the edge of the cliff again I looked at Bella "Hey, I don't think it's a good day to dive after all" I said as I pointed out to the horizon "Storm clouds are coming in… how about we try again tomorrow and from the lower cliffs this time, Quil's grandfather says it's not safe up here" I finished and turned to look at him again but he'd already made his way back to his hiking. Bella looked out over the water and frowned, I could tell she was disappointed with the news but she shrugged "Yeah another time then…" She looked down the cliff again and got a bad feeling, like she'd jump it even with the imminent danger… I shook it off she was a smart girl, she would see sense the next time we came.

After that Bella dropped me off at my place and left for home thinking she'd finally given up the thought of jumping from such heights… Or so I'd thought, I'd come to realize later that she'd gone back to the cliffs and jumped without anyone there for safety… I'd never understand why she'd done it…

A couple more weeks went by, still no sign of Jake and Embry. Quil and I kept up the daily routine we'd been spending more and more time together now that our group seemed to be separated. I hadn't seen or heard of Bella since we'd gone to the cliffs, I'd tried to call a few times but she never answered, she would send a text here and there to say sorry and that she was busy. Spring was finally here and the moss was growing faster than ever, Quil was over one evening and we were in his back yard enjoying a small fire, roasting marshmallows and sausages. The atmosphere was a little depressing it being just the two of us as all we could talk about lately was the fact that is was indeed just the two of us… We'd gone over so many scenarios as to what was actually going on that our ideas were starting to get a little ridiculous like Jake having grown a third arm or something, that had gotten a short laugh out of us. Quil had admitted quite a few times that he'd be the next one to disappear, but seemed determined to fight off whatever might be coming for him…


	8. Chapter 8: The Attack

The day finally came when I saw Bella again… or really, I saw her truck… parked in Jake's driveway. I'd taken to going running lately and today my run took me in front of Jake's house as it did on most days hoping to catch a glimpse of my elusive friend. My curiosity got the better of me so I removed one of my headphones and slowly made my way towards the house. As I got closer I heard laughter, more specifically I heard Jake's laugh followed by the unmistakable higher pitched laugh of Bella. With that I jogged behind the house and stopped, just at the line of trees Bella was pushing Jake in the sides as he tried to tickle her. The sight of Jake certainly was something… Someone had gone and cut off all of his hair for one and he'd grown in height and muscles, muscles he definitely didn't have the last time he had his shirt off. As much as I wanted to sit there and admire his new physique I couldn't help the words that came out of my mouth somehow alerting Jake that I was there "What the fuck?" I whispered. The change in Jake was sudden, his featured darkened and with a glare in my general direction he turned around and ran into the woods. I did the only thing I could think of and ran after him.

I had just passed Bella when she yelled "Anne! Don't!" I grew angry then, I stopped and looked into the woods but I could see no sign of Jake. I growled and whipped around at Bella "What the hell is going on Bella! Is this where you've been the past few weeks?!" I asked loudly. She flinched and I knew I had my answer "You can't be serious! What is going on?" I asked, Bella just shook her head "Look, Anne… I'm really sorry… I can't tell you what's going on, it's not what you think though… It's not their choice!" She seemed to stop herself from saying anymore she took a deep breath and continued "I'm really sorry Anne… I guess I should go now… Maybe I'll see you around?" She asked. I could do nothing but look out to the wooded area again and shrug as I heard her walk away. Honestly, I felt extremely hurt, how could my best friend find a way to include Bella in his life but not me… Didn't I matter anymore? Tears welled up in my eyes and threatened to spill over, I walked to a nearby tree and in my anger punched it as hard as I could. I regretted that decision as soon as my fist hit as my knuckles burned, I looked at them, blood was starting to well from the wounds I'd created unintentionally. I shook my hand and started running, I didn't stop until I was truly winded and could barely make it back home at a walk.

As soon as I got home I grabbed my phone and dialed Quil's number… My heart almost stopped when it didn't even ring but went straight to voice mail. 'No…' I thought, with shaky fingers I dialed the house phone. I held my breath and waited a moment, Quil Jr was the one to answer "Hi Sir, is Quil around?" I asked my heart beating faster and faster each second that went by "Oh! Hi Anne… I'm sorry Quil's not available right now, he hasn't been feeling well today and needs some rest…" was my answer. Knowing what the response would be to my next question I still couldn't help but ask "Maybe I can come by and visit? It might cheer him up a bit?" There was no noise on the other line for a moment then a sigh "Look Anne, Quil needs his rest. He's going to be out for a while, best you not bother him… Goodbye Anne." And with that the call ended. 'No no no no no no no no no no no no no…' Suddenly I couldn't seem to get a good breath in, tears were now pouring out of my eyes and I couldn't keep myself up anymore.

It took a long while before I could calm my mind and body down, my father found me after getting home from work on the ground by the phone. He dropped his lunch box making me jump a little and look at him "Anne! What's wrong?" he asked and with that I was crying again, dad ran over and wrapped me his arms, rocking me back and forth softly. "Shhhhhhh… It's okay, it's going to be okay sweetheart... Tell me what happened…" I proceeded to tell him everything that had been going on the past months, dad listened to everything and didn't interrupt. When I was finished my dad sighed and hugged me a little harder for a few seconds "How about I go talk to Billy again? Maybe I can figure out what's going on?" I just nodded but I didn't feel hopeful this time.

I was right…

Weeks went by and I'd never felt lonelier in my life… not even the first few years when we'd first moved to LaPush at least then I had no idea what it was like to have friends. 'It would've been better off if it'd stayed that way…' I thought bitterly. I'd made my way on a short hike in the forest across the street from my house to a small clearing about 20 minutes run into the woods. The clearing was one that the boys and I had found a few years back in our adventures and had branded it our official hiding place when we didn't want the adults to find us. The place followed an old game trail though it was slowly starting to overgrow now that deer and other wild animals didn't seem to use it. There was an old log in the middle of the mossy clearing overlooking a large bush of wild flowers. The flowers had grown a lot since we'd first found the place; this clearing had just enough sun to give them life. I went over to the log and sat down losing myself completely to my thoughts. Dad was really worried about me lately, he tried to hide it but I could tell, I'd quit my job at the corner store the other day as I was struggling to concentrate on my studies lately and needed the extra time to try and get my marks back up. The quietness of the wooded area was calming and for a little bit I was able to drown out everything that was going on as I stared blankly at the resilient flowers.

I'd been sitting for a few hours when I realized that my muscles had gone stiff from my lack of moving 'that's gonna hurt in the morning' I thought. Just as I got up and was dusting myself off something strange happened, a beautiful woman appeared near my flowers. I was positive it was a hallucination, I hadn't seen her come from anywhere, I'm sure I would have seen her approach since I'd been looking at the flowers the entire time. Suddenly I got the uneasy feeling that I had to run and get out of there at all cost, the hair at the back of my neck standing on end.

Slowly she started to make her way towards me "A young girl like you shouldn't be out here in the woods… Something might just make a meal out of you." She smiled then, a horrible smile that made chills run up my spine. I quickly turned around to make a run for it but she was already there. That's when I made first direct eye contact; her eyes were crimson and they contrasted sharply with her pale skin. As beautiful as she might seem I knew instantly that she was dangerous. She slowly started to move towards me "Ah. Ah. Ah." she tsked, "You're not going anywhere" she said, an ugly sneer marring her face. Then, she lunged, quick as lighting, I closed my eyes as a scream left my mouth, but the expected impact never came. A big black bear stood between the strange woman and I, the thing was as large as a horse and was snarling at her its fur standing on end. When she tried to make a move towards me the giant thing turned with her, that's when I realized the giant creature it wasn't a bear as I'd first thought… No, it was a humongous wolf.

The woman looked to me again "Seems like you've made friends in high places" she snarled. Just then two more wolves appeared, one brown and black who went to stand next to the black one and a grey one that took its post directly in front of me, it's ears were back and a snarl at his lips. A look of fear flashed through the woman's eyes but it disappeared as soon as it came "Guess I'll just have to come back for you later then" she said and with that she turned and fled. This seemed to be the last straw for the two wolves at the front and the chase was on.

The grey wolf however turned to me quickly, he circled around me slowly, and sniffing my surroundings as he went then he stopped and stared at me for a moment. 'Nice puppy' I thought, as I stayed still, though I had a distinct feeling that this creature was familiar to me somehow 'I'm hallucinating…' I thought as I shook my head slightly. I was starting to go crazy, I'd never met a giant wolf before in my life, trust me I would know. I also didn't have as much fear for this giant creature as I'd had with the woman who, just moments ago, had tried to kill me 'That could change any second…' I thought. We both stood there without moving. Silently, I searched for a way to escape 'damn it, all the tree branches are too high for my reach, running's my best bet' I thought as I cursed my height for the first time and I was pretty sure I was nowhere near fast enough if the speed of the other two was anything to go by.

I took the first step backwards, I didn't like it because that direction would lead me further into the woods but the wolf stood in front of the exit. My movement must have gotten the wolf out of his thoughts, a small snarl left his lips and he was suddenly behind me. With my path finally open I ran towards my house as fast as I could, fear creeping its way back to my body. I could hear him running close behind me and every time I tried to veer off the path to try and loose him he was there jaws snapping but never touching me.

As soon as I made it through to my back yard I realized I couldn't hear the wolf anymore. I collapsed on the lawn panting and looked into the woods. I could still see him, he must've been making his way back to the others I assumed. At that moment, seeing him running free, I had an unexplainable urge to run with him, to just shed my skin and run free in the wild… I shook my head 'Get your head on straight Anne, that's just ridiculous' I thought 'I need to go to sleep' I groaned before getting up and walking shakily to the back door.

When I got inside my face must have shown the slight fear that was finally leaving my body because as soon as I walked in my father gave me a questioning look. "Anne, what happened? You look winded!" he said. "Oh, I just saw a bear in the woods and ran like hell back here." I told him, I hoped my lie was good enough; I had a hard time lying to him about anything, no one would believe that those were wolves… Even I was doubting the whole ordeal all of a sudden as none of it made any sense. "WHAT! Are you alright? You didn't get hurt, did you? I told Billy that those rabid animals were going to make their way here! They've been terrorizing people and have killed a couple camping a while back!" he exclaimed.

'Guess I don't have to worry about lying' I thought before reassuring him "Don't worry dad I'm fine, he didn't seem rabid. I think I startled him when I started running because he didn't follow me…" He seemed a little relieved at that "Still, make sure you don't go into the woods alone from now on" he said. I looked at him wide eyed "You don't have to worry about that dad, I don't plan on going anytime soon" I replied. That part was true, I wasn't taking the chance of seeing that strange woman again, just the thought of her made me shiver. "Good!" he said, thinking I was talking about the bear.


	9. Chapter 9: Long stay at grandmas'

After the incident with the wolves or the "Bears", my dad decided I needed a break from everything that had happened the past few months. His solution, send me over to Grans for a few weeks. I drove up in my jeep, my father had offered to pay for the plane ticket there but I'd refused in hopes that driving would keep my mind well occupied and away from everything. Turns out I was right, other than the wait on the ferry; I had to concentrate on the road and every exit sign on the way there. I have to say that things seemed to look up a little as I couldn't find the time to reminisce on past events.

The drive up took approximately six hours if you count the few stops I'd made for gas and coffee. As soon as I drove into the driveway Gran was at the door with Molly, her beautiful black lab, jumping at the window to get a look at me too, it was then I realized how much I'd missed them since Grandpa had passed not even a year ago. I couldn't help but feel ashamed that I hadn't been up to see her since; Grandpa's death had really taken its toll on her, they were the couple people would call soul mates, never seen without one another.

I made quick work of getting my luggage and ran up to the porch. As I got to the door Gran opened it up for me, Molly ran up and jumped for a kiss, she was as eager to greet me as Gran was "Hey girl!" I laughed. "Anne! Look at you! You got more beautiful since I saw you last, that hair looks great on you and no more of those baggy clothes I see! Oh! I'm so glad you came! It's been too long since I've last seen you…" I looked to her with a small smile, feeling even guiltier than a few moments ago. "Thanks and I know Gran; you must have been awful lonely… But I'll make it up to you okay?" Her smile lit up her face and I knew she wouldn't give me a moments rest for my two-week visit, which was best; I wouldn't have time to think of certain things.

"Well, come on in! I've already got your room ready for you, changed the sheets too! Molly! Stop your jumping, you know better than that." Gran reprimanded, and Molly gave her a shamed look, she seemed to know what she was being told. "You didn't have to do that Gran; I could have done it before bed…" I told her, but she wouldn't hear any of it. I made my way to my room, and set my bags down on the bed before letting myself fall on it with a sigh, Molly, who'd followed me jumped next to me and proceeded to lick my cheeks, her tail hitting my legs as it wagged "Molls!" I squealed "Stop it you big goof!" With a bark, she jumped off the bed as I sat up. "Anne, Dinner's ready! Come and get some before it gets cold." That was our cue to go, Molly and I raced to the kitchen, I went to sit in my chair where Gran was already waiting and she went to her bowl which was filled with her own meal.

"So, what have you been up to these days? You didn't seem like yourself in your last letter… Did something happen between you and Jake?" She asked, I sighed once more; I'd been doing that a lot lately "I guess you could say that… He's been completely ignoring me the past few months, same with Quil and Embry… At least Quil will text me once in a while." At the news she looked to me, clearly worried by what she'd heard. "Have you talked to anyone about it dear? Your father never mentioned anything about it when he called to say you were coming over…" I looked to her pained "Yeah I told dad, he even went to talk to Billy about it, but he didn't even try to help, just said Jake was out with mono or whatever but it's been months. I've seen him with Sam's gang along with Embry and Quil; every time I go around they leave. They haven't even been to school in all this time; I guess I'm just worried. But I don't want to think about it right now… if you don't mind…" I said. "No of course not, the next two weeks is all about fun, just you and me!" She exclaimed. To say I was glad was an understatement but I knew the subject would come up at some point or other during my stay. I might even confide to her the whole Bella thing, I couldn't stay mad at her, that I knew, but I was still angry that she'd found a way in and left me behind.

The next morning Gran had a big breakfast laid out on the table, Eggs, bacon, pancakes the works. It literally made my tummy rumble "Hungry I see!" Said Gran as she walked in with some milk, Molly at her heals "Yeah, my appetite has grown in the past few weeks, I'm always hungry" I laughed as I sat in my chair. "So, what are we doing today Gran?" I asked taking a large bite of pancake "I was thinking we could go to the park, the blossoms should have bloomed by now and I didn't get a look at them last year… What do you think?" She asked as she sat down to eat her own meal "That sounds great! I've missed seeing it." I replied. It didn't take us long to finish our meal and I noticed that Gran hadn't eaten much of her breakfast, I shrugged it off, maybe she'd eaten earlier when she'd first woken up.

The drive to the park wasn't long; Gran had decided to bring Molly along for the walk, Gran wasn't always well enough to bring her on long walks so this was as good an opportunity to do so. As we walked we stopped by an ice-cream stand and memories of my childhood came flooding back. I remembered coming here with my parent and Grandparents often, we'd always treat ourselves to an ice-cream. A little way into our walk I noticed Gran was starting to breathe a little funny but I decided to leave it, she'd tell me if she needed a break. It was only a few moments later that we found ourselves sitting on a bench. "I'm sorry dear, I guess I'm just too old for walks like these nowadays…" she said still catching her breath "We can turn around if you'd like Gran, I'm sure we can find something else fun to do!" I said. "Don't be silly, we might have to make a few stops on the way but I'm telling you right now we're walking the whole way!" Her sudden determination surprised me.

It took us the greater part of the day to walk around the park, Gran had brought her camera and had taken many pictures of the beautiful scenery, and she'd also taken a lot of pictures with the two of us with Molly by our side. When we got home, Gran went straight to bed for a long afternoon nap, maybe I should have insisted on turning around…

Two days later Gran surprised me with tickets to see a movie in theaters, I can only remember going to the movies once with her, I'd been very young then, and if I remember right, we'd seen Peter Pan. The movie we saw was Letters to Juliette, a love story… I couldn't help but feel awed at the love the characters seemed to share and I knew that I wanted that someday, even if things didn't go the way I wanted it to. Somehow, I'd find my better half.

Gran and I kept busy the rest of that week; we went to see a museum and an art gallery, Gran even insisted on bringing me shopping with her, she bought me a few more outfits but she refused to spend money on herself saying she hadn't spoiled me in a while. All in all, everything was great, things were looking up. If only I'd known what was coming…

At the beginning of my second weeks stay, Gran said she wasn't feeling well and decided to stay home for the day, but she insisted I go out to enjoy myself. I decided to go out for a run with Molly but found it strange when Molly seemed reluctant to leave the house 'She usually loves walks…' I thought, but shrugged off the bad feeling I was getting in the pit of my stomach. Our run turned into more of a walk when Molly kept slowing down 'Guess she's getting old…' I thought. It wasn't until we got back an hour later that I realized something was seriously wrong.

The house was quiet, and as I walked in the living room the TV was on and Gran was nowhere in sight, 'Gran always turns off the TV, she's told me to turn it off when I'm not watching it at least a million times in the past…' I grabbed the remote and turned off the television Molly gave a sudden tug on the leash that was currently still attached to her collar; a whine escaped her as she tried to make her way to Gran's bedroom door. "Gran? I'm back from my walk." I called, when I didn't get a response I felt my heart speed up a little. I walked towards her room, Molly at my side, and peered into the room "Gran?" I asked. What I saw stopped me in my tracts "GRAN!" I screamed. There lay my grandmother on the bedroom floor, glasses near her hand and a pill vial still closed next to her, unconscious. I dropped the leash and ran to her, she was breathing heavily and she wasn't responding to any of my calls. I reached for the phone next to her bed and dialed 911. It took me a minute to explain the situation to the operator, but she'd already found the location of the call and an ambulance was on its way "Please stay calm miss, the ambulance will arrive shortly." The woman on the line said but the panic had already set in, tears ran down my face and sobs came out of my throat, my only constant was Molly who stayed at my side the entire time.

When the ambulance got to the house the paramedics laid her down on a stretcher and I watched them leave at full speed. A police officer came to my side "Would you like a ride to the hospital miss, I don't think you're in any condition to be driving…" All I could do was nod as he led me to the back of the police cruiser, I felt a gentle nudge on my leg and looked down to see Molly, I'd forgotten about her in all the excitement. The officer looked at her, "Is that your dog miss?" I nodded again and reached to pat her on the head. "Sorry Molls, but you can't come" I hiccupped; I turned around and brought Molly in the house before hurrying back to the cruiser.

The fifteen-minute drive seemed like it took hours and the hour wait to get any news from Gran seemed like a lifetime. In the hour I'd been waiting, one of the nurses had been kind enough to come see how I was doing every few minutes promising it wouldn't take much longer. I was sitting in a chair head in my hands when I heard the clearing of a throat, I looked up to find a man standing there wearing a white lab coat and a clip board in hand. "Are you Miss Richard?" I nodded and stood to finally hear what was going on. "Hi, I'm Dr. Arnold Bishop I've just finished tending to your grandmother and she is doing well for her condition, she had an attack from the lung cancer and should be able to go back home as soon as tomorrow afternoon…" I didn't hear anything past that. "Cancer… That's not right…" I said, interrupting Dr. Bishop, he paused in what seemed to be a well-rehearsed speech "Pardon?" he asked. "I'm sorry but I think you have the wrong person, my Gran doesn't have cancer…" I said and he seemed to pale at that. "You are the grand-daughter of Emma Richard, right?" I nodded. I didn't like the look of pity he sent me nor what he told me next, "Your grand-mother was diagnosed with lung cancer three months ago… She's decided against treatment, although she's had medication to help alleviate the symptoms. She's been doing remarkably well for her condition…" He trailed off at the empty look I gave him. He talked a little more and left me to wait for the okay to visit Gran.

I was once more sitting in the chair. It had been another hour and a half since my talk with the doctor and a half hour since I'd been told I could go see Gran. As much as I wanted to run to her, I couldn't seem to wrap my head around the situation. 'Cancer…' I thought once again 'and she'd refused treatment… She's going to leave me…' I couldn't help the tears that came. 'How could she have kept it from us…?' I sighed; I knew I wouldn't get answers until I confronted her. I finally got the courage to walk up to her room, as I peered through the door I saw Gran in her hospital bed attached to every machine possible it seemed. I walked next to her, she must have heard me because she opened her eyes and gave me a small smile "Hello sweetheart, I'm sorry for having ruined your day." She chuckled and for what seemed like the hundredth time that day tears ran down my face "It's not funny Gran… Why did you hide it from us? We could have helped you." I sobbed. She opened her arms for me and I willingly fell into them being careful of her and all the wires. She wrapped her arms around me and pated my back. "Sweetheart, I'm too old to go through all those treatments, and I would rather spend my last days with you than in the hospital everyday…" I sobbed harder at that "Now, now, everything will be alright in the end you'll see." I looked up to her and asked the one question I didn't want to know the answer to "How long?" she sighed "The doctor said the cancer is spreading faster than we first thought, he gives me about a month or so." I don't know how long I laid there with her crying after that. It seemed like minutes passed before the nurse came in to announce that visiting hours were over.

I lay in my bed that night contemplating what had happened. I'd called Dad as soon as I got home and he assured me he'd be here by tomorrow afternoon. It was a few hours into my thinking that I finally understood all the signs I'd missed at first, the way she was eating less, her shortness of breath, her determination to the see the blossoms and walk the length of the park, seeing a movie in theaters, not buying anything for herself, little things unnoticeable if you're not looking. Then it hit me, these were all things she had wanted to do one last time, to remember them anew before she left us. She'd hidden the illness from us when she got the news it was terminal, so we wouldn't worry, so we could see her like we'd always seen her. I was angry in a way, to think I would want to leave her to suffer on her own, to keep all this pain to herself, this also made me determined to give her every good memory I could before it got worst, not just for her but for us, to say I'd done all these things with her before she left us for good.

Dad got to the hospital at noon the next day; he'd left early to be able to pick us up as soon as Gran was discharged. When he'd walked into the room I'd stepped out to get a snack so they could talk to each other without me there to interrupt. When I got back Dad's eyes were red, meaning he'd been crying as well. It was a little after diner when a nurse came in with the discharge papers, within an hour we were back home. Molly seemed relieved to see Gran back home; it was then that I wondered what would happen to Molly when gran was gone. I bent down and hugged her receiving a few kisses on the cheek and after that greeting she stuck to Gran's side like glue.

The days went by and by the end of my second weeks stay Gran seemed to be feeling better, Dad and I took her out to diner almost every night, if there was anything she wanted to do we did our best to make it happen. Every night I could hear Dad and Gran talking about what was to come, and every night I cried myself to sleep, one morning Gran approached me while I'd been sitting on the porch steps. She sat beside me and just watched the cars roll by on the street, after a few minutes she sighed and wrapped her arms around my shoulders, I leaned into her side automatically. With another sigh she looked at me "You know, I couldn't have asked for a better granddaughter, I can't tell you exactly how proud of you I am. I know you've been going through a rough time at home but I want you to know that no matter what I'll be right there beside you with your mom and Gramps." I turned to her and held her as close as I could "I love you Gran, I'm gonna miss you…" I whimpered, with a sigh she replied "I know, I love you too sweetheart." I couldn't help the tears that once more ran down my cheeks it's all I'd been doing the past few weeks. We sat there for a while neither of us wanting this moment to end, it was only when Dad called to tell us diner was ready that we climbed up the stairs into the kitchen.

Two more weeks had passed and things started to go downhill, during the last weekend Gran had fainted once more and was now on oxygen at all times, her days were now passed in bed with my father and I by her side at all times. Later that week she was transferred once more to the hospital, her body was no longer able to sustain itself. Every day she kept getting weaker and would spend most of her days sleeping. At the end of the third week Gran stayed awake for the better part of the day, she seemed almost cheerful but at the same time she was also distant, looking outside as if seeing something that only she could see.

That night after sleeping a few hours she looked at me and smiled "Anne, I want you to have something," she shakily reached into the small drawer next to the hospital bed and took out a small box. She smiled and placed it on my lap, all I could do was stare; she chuckled "Go on, open it!" The smile that lit up her face was like no other; carefully I took the box in my hands and slowly took off the lid. Inside the box laid a beautiful heart pendant, the heart looked like crystal shining brilliantly in the dim hospital lighting, inside the heart was a breath-taking picture of a white wolf, it's eyes seemed to stare into my soul. I looked to Gran and she smiled to me once more. "Gran, I can't keep this…" I looked to the simple yet elegant chain the pendant was attached to, she just smiled. "You know, that pendant was passed on to the women in our family, and since I never had a daughter I thought I would do the honor of passing it down to you, and one day you can pass it down to your own daughter." I gave her the best smile I could muster "Come over here, I want to place it around your neck…" I laughed at that and sat down next to her on the bed. Once the pendant hung around my neck she leaned back and stared at me for a moment, "No matter what happens, things will always turn out alright, just remember that" As she said this I knew she was talking about Jake and the boys, then she smiled, patted my cheek and added "I love you Anne; promise to always remember that…" I leaned over and kissed her cheek "Love you too gran, I promise…" It was then that Dad walked into the room with a bit of food for everyone. We talked some more until Gran was finally too tired to talk anymore; Dad and I made ourselves comfortable in our reclining chairs.

That night, Gran passed away, Dad and I spent the rest of that day cuddled on the couch at Gran's with Molly lying next to us, silent tears ran down the both of our faces. Molly would be coming with us to La Push as Gran had requested. Our last week went by much too fast, the funeral was nothing but a blur and all of a sudden, I was back home with no one but Dad and Molly to talk to, when I really wanted nothing more than to spend time with the boys…

**Thank you so much for those who have reviewed! It gives me a boost to keep writing this story! I'll be adding songs that I think relate well to some of the chapters onto my profile! So check it out if you're interested! Thanks again! Kiarra 3**


	10. Chapter 10: The Consequence

It had been a few weeks since the funeral… And every day my mind kept going in circles, my life had become a routine. Waking up, heading to school, work, then home to try and catch up on all the school work I had missed and after that I just sat on my bed staring holes into the walls. The constant rain didn't help make me feel any happier, the only happy thing or I should say animal in my life was Molly, she was my ray of sunshine these days, but that ray just wasn't big or bright enough to turn things around… Molly had adjusted to her new home pretty well and I could only hope that she would stay with us for a long while.

Molly was outside playing in the puddles in the back yard while I sat on the couch this time, my father would probably see it as an improvement from my bed. Once again things kept whirling around in my head and this time things where starting to go out of control, I could see myself getting more and more depressed, angry and frustrated.

All of a sudden, everything that happened in the past few months caught up with me, the loneliness of losing Embry and Jake to Sam Uley and his gang, Bella's betrayal when she found a way in and decided to completely ignore me too. Quil was the last to go. I knew it was bound to happen, I just didn't think it would happen within days of Bella getting back with Jacob, Quil had been so scared too. I only ever got a few texts from Quil and although I'd tried to visit, I was turned around by his mom just like Billy had done. I couldn't help but feel betrayed. Then there was Gran's passing and knowing when I got back that no one was here for me, to help me through all of this.

I'd been sitting on the sofa since I'd gotten home from school, I didn't even see the boys there anymore. I was "watching" TV, the weather channel was on I think, but that didn't matter, I wasn't paying attention anyways. Dad was getting worried, he'd tried to talk to Billy once more and Billy had said I'd get over it. It was surprising to the both of us that he could be so cold, especially since he had been the one to encourage the friendship between the boys and me in the first place. I sighed, I think my father could feel me slipping away 'Guess I know how Bella could let herself be a zombie' I thought, all my anger was starting to boil over the depression though. I looked to the clock 'Quarter to five…' I sighed once more 'dad's gonna be here any minute…' I had to get my growing anger under control before he got here.

But as I tried to calm down the look of pity my father gave me whenever he'd come home flashed through my mind and it only made me angrier. Out of nowhere I snapped. My anger clearly getting the best of me and taking hold like never before. I could practically feel my temperature rising through my body with every second that went by and next thing I knew my body started shaking, I couldn't control it. My mind kept playing over all the events, Jacob liking Bella, using me to play dress up for him, leaving me, Embry's cold shoulder, Quil's absence after Bella finds her way to Jake, Grans death and leaving me all alone… ALONE! 'ARGHHHHH' I just wanted to hit someone or tear into something!

Then all I saw was red.

I dropped to the floor, the heat too much for me to handle and I just wanted to release all that pressure! A huge ripping sound was heard, the sound shocked me and fear started to take over, my anger slightly diminishing trying to see who was in the house and what they were doing. I struggled to get to my feet but my movements were awkward. I looked down confused as to what was going only to see what was wrong and my mind couldn't comprehend what I was seeing.

My clothes lay strewn all around me and giant white paws stood in my line of sight 'WHAT THE FUCK' I cried but all that came out was a howl. I backed up in surprise looking around to see where that had come from but there was nothing to be seen, I closed my eyes 'Okay now calm down… Just a dream, just a dream' I chanted and a scared whine escaped my mouth. I chanced a second look down and the same pure white furry paws were there 'Okay not good… what the hell happened?'

I moved what was supposed to be my right hand and the right paw came up and copied the movements I was doing 'I have a giant paw… this can't be healthy' I was in shock to say the least. I narrowed my eyes and… 'Yep there's a snout' along with what I imagined was _my_ snout stood a black nose like any typical dog. I tried to get up but my body wasn't listening to my commands, after a few more attempts I managed to get up on all fours 'alright, now to get to the front doors mirror…'

On shaky legs, I stumbled my way to my destination, even though I'd had an idea of what was coming nothing could have prepared me for the sight of myself as a giant wolf. 'Is that…really me?' I questioned myself I moved my head from side to side and the wolf in the mirror did the same, I had a glossy white coat, fluffy white tail, perky ears, giant teeth… 'Wow…Definitely not normal…' I thought.

I was about to turn around when the front door opened suddenly "What the hell?!" the figure yelled, my father just stood there gapping at me and I could see the fear slowly creep into his eyes 'Dad it's me!' I tried to say but it came out as a growling bark which only caused him to stumble into the doorway in shock. Without knowing what else to do I ran to the first available exit, which, with my dad standing frozen in the doorway, happened to be our open living room window. The last glimpse I got of my dad was of him sitting on the floor, house keys still in hand.

I tried to leap as I got to the window but my paws still weren't coordinated and slipped on the hard wood floors, my back hit the glass first, shattering it instantly. I felt the glass bite into my side when I landed in the flower bed just below the window frame. I struggled to my feet and winced when a few shards cut into my pads then I ran, stumbling into the forest across the street and kept going, my legs gradually getting used to what were once awkward movements. I only stopped when I entered a small clearing a few kilometers away, not unlike the one where my bleeding hearts still hopefully resided. That's when the voices started.

_'__Hey! We've got a newbie Paul!' _now this I wasn't expecting as I skidded to a stop. I looked around to see who was there but I was still alone in the woods. 'Who's there? Where are you?!' I thought, I didn't have any other way of replying and the voices seemed to be in my head. _'Stay there kid, Paul went to get Sam, he'll explain everything to you. I'm Jared by the way' _the voice introduced itself. At the thought of Sam all the reasons for my anger came back to me 'I don't want to see_ him_!' I cried and growled.

As if the male knew what I was thinking he replied _'Calm down kid, everything will make sense in a minute, trust me.' _As he finished, images of other wolves entered my head, somehow, almost magically I knew to call them pack. I then saw Embry's transformation, Jake's, and finally Quil's. 'So that's what happened? They didn't just leave me?' I questioned. The voice, Jared, as he had called himself, laughed in my head _'Not a chance, this is a big secret only us wolves and our families can know. Trust me all three of them have been a pain in our asses since they've joined'_ more images flashed through my mind: Embry fighting with Sam, followed closely by Jake and Quil.

At the mention of family, I immediately thought of my dad and, once again, the voice seemed to read my mind _'Shit! Your old man saw you huh? Sam will have to send Paul to have Billy explain everything to him.' _I sighed in relief; my dad would get an explanation for what had happened. 'I'm Anne by the way… What were those images I saw? It was almost like a movie…' I asked as I lay down on the mossy forest floor.

_'__Now don't freak out alright?' _he said 'Too late for that...' was my sarcastic reply, he huffed. _'Don't you be smart with me pup… Now, you see, part of being in the pack means we need a way to communicate while we're wolves, so we talk mind to mind… But the downside is we also see what we're thinking… Actually, now that I really think about it, for some reason I only see things from you when you're frantic…' _he said. 'Oh great, so even among mutants I'm the freak' I muttered _'it doesn't help that you're only the second girl to phase… Oh! Here comes Sam. Remember don't move we won't be long.' _I knew instantly when Sam phased as he'd called it, I could feel some sort of authority figure in my mind, an odd feeling all together.

Only a few moments passed before two giant wolves came into the clearing. One of them was the same black one from before, while the other was light brown. Somehow, I knew the second wolf was Jared. _'We've already sent Billy to talk to your father Anne' _I recognized Sam's voice immediately, I looked to the black wolf and he nodded to me 'Thank you… You were there, weren't you?' I asked. I could see the woman who had been in my nightmares since the incident. _'Yes, you came very close to dying that day, you're lucky we caught her scent. Embry's been really upset about it, so were Jake and Quil. Embry and Quil have been keeping a lookout on your house in case the leech came back for you.' _I saw my house clear as day from a view from the woods. 'What about Jake where has he been?' I asked anxious to know how he'd been and if he missed me.

_'__Well… Jake's made his own decisions…' _Sam said. Then I saw Jake standing with Bella, he looked pained over something. _'The Leech that tried to kill you is after Bella, she wants to take revenge on the Cullen's. Turns out they killed her mate'._ He continued._ '_The Cullen's… how could they have killed something like her?' I asked, Sam sighed '_Everything you know about the legends is true Anne, our ancestors were shape shifters and the cold ones really do exist…_' All the legends filtered through my head, stories I thought to be just that, stories. '_I know it's hard to believe, we've all been through this. I hope you understand why the boys couldn't stay around you anymore, each one of us is dangerous, and anything can trigger the change in the beginning_.' I caught a glimpse of something, a big blur and a lot of blood but before I could understand it the vision disappeared. 'They could have told me what was going on! At least I would have understood!' I cried, still upset about the situation, this seemed to anger Sam _'And would you have believed them?'_ he asked. 'Yes…' I said, but the more I thought about it the more I doubted myself, this still seemed impossible, yet here I was.

_'__Now you understand why no one is to know about us, your father will be told but no one else can even hear a whisper of what is happening in the Rez, the whole village would be in a panic, it doesn't help that the blood suckers are around.' _Then I remembered what Sam had just_ said 'The Cullen's… They're like the cold ones from the legends then?_' I asked. Jared finally cut in; he'd kept quiet as Sam was talking to me._ 'They're the same ones, humans call them Vampires, we like to call then leeches or bloodsuckers.'_ More images invaded my mind as he talked, I could see Edward Cullen standing with others who were just as pale, and all of them had the same honey colored eyes.

Now I was confused 'But I don't understand… We've only recently started to get disappearances… But they've been around a while…' Silence followed, both Sam and Jared were shifting from side to side, I could suddenly see the woman from the clearing, Sam was the one to answer _'As I mentioned before, the woman that you saw that day, she's the one causing all the problems around here. The Cullen's don't feed off of humans. If they did we would destroy them. The redhead on the other hand…' _

I didn't know what to feel at this moment, I was a wolf, and so were the others and apparently, we killed vampires… A sudden wave of exhaustion hit me and I lay my head on the ground a whine escaping my lips. Sam walked up to me and nuzzled my cheek _'Hey, everything will be alright, we'll take care of you.' _There was no doubt in my mind that he meant every word, I understood the change in his behavior now. _'Come on, let's get you out of here, we'll head over to Billy's.' _With that he turned and left going the same way I'd been headed. 'Wait!' I yelled. Both of them turned my way 'How do I change back?' Both looked to each other and chuckled before heading off again.

'Hey! It's not funny!' I yelled running behind them, but they didn't seem as worried as I was. It wasn't long before we reached Billy's back yard I could see the well beaten path made my many large paws. We stayed behind the garage where the trees were thick enough to cover us; no one would be able to see us here. _'Hey Jared, phase and get Billy over here.'_ Sam ordered, Jared didn't seem to mind though and left a little ways for a few minutes before reappearing out of the woods wearing a pair of cutoffs, he jogged passed us on his way to the house.

'Sam, what happens from here?' I looked to him, he sighed and looked at me _'You're a part of this now, there's no going back. I'll explain everything once we've phased back'_ it was another minute or so before I heard the sound of Billy's wheelchair cutting across the back yard towards us. As soon as he made it around the corner he stopped a moment and stared at me, a sad look crossed his face; I stayed still where I'd decided to lay down and waited for him to say something. He slowly came closer to me, Jared by his side the entire time and Sam keeping a close eye on me, I could tell they didn't trust me near him in this state, and that bothered me. 'I'm not gonna hurt him!' I looked to Sam and gave a low growl; Jared was quick to stand in front of Billy throwing a warning look my way. Billy however seemed to understand "Jared, step aside" and he wheeled himself closer. When he did stop, I lifted my head off the ground and looked him in the eye "Anne… I'm so sorry; I didn't think you'd be a part of this…" he said, tears had gathered up at the corner of his eyes. I whined and softly nuzzled his cheek, he sighed and looked to Sam "Help her phase back and meet us here", he grabbed a bag I hadn't noticed from next to him and placed it on the grown "Those are some clothes you can change into Anne, take them with you." After that both he and Jared made their way back to the house.

_'__Alright Anne, let's go, the sooner we start the faster we'll be back. It usually takes a while to get the hang of returning to normal.' _I grabbed the bag in my mouth and we headed out into the woods once more. Sam brought us to a quiet secluded area I dropped the bag and looked to him 'Alright, how do I turn back?' Sam sighed and laid down _'I just want to warn you, most of us took hours and even days to phase back. You're going to have to concentrate, any anger you have will complicate things. Understand?' _I nodded and lay down as well, I closed my eyes and exhaled trying to relax my muscles, I could hear Sam's breathing, birds chirping, and the leaves rustling in the wind. My nose twitched and all the smells from the area wafted into my nose, fresh cut grass, mossy trees… I groaned. 'There are too many things going on! I can't concentrate!' Sam opened an eye to look at me before closing it again _'Try again!' _

****later****

It took the better part of two hours before I felt the shift in my body, my muscles started to contract and my body began to get smaller, slowly my paws became hands and my snout shortened and became a nose, soon I was on the forest floor with no clothes on. I looked quickly towards Sam, he had turned his back to me, I quickly grabbed the bag and ran behind a tree, I pulled on the sweat pants and baggy shirt that was in the bag, I think Billy was uncomfortable going through my clothes so he'd taken Jake's instead.

I was about to go back in the clearing but thought better of it "Sam?" I called, I wasn't sure if he'd changed back yet, and walking in on him was not my thing. "I'm dressed Anne, let's head back now". I walked over to him and I was quickly wrapped in a hug, Sam let me down and I looked at him "What was that for?" I asked, he sighed "For making you miserable and taking your best friends away to start..." I frowned; somehow by some miracle I'd forgotten about it, it felt nice to know it wasn't just me who'd been miserable this whole time. "Thank you, for apologizing even though it's not really your fault." We shared a small smile and made our way back; it felt nice to be walking on two feet once more.

As we left the cover of the trees I noticed it had started to drizzle once more, we jogged to the house and went inside. "Come on in the kitchen!" Billy called, when we got there Billy was at the table with three cups of coffee I went and sat down next to him while Sam took his cup and leaned against the kitchen counter. "Where's Jared?" I asked, Billy was the one to answer "He went back on patrol with Paul; the others are at Emily's probably begging for some food." At the mention of Emily Sam got a dreamy look on his face, it was funny to watch, and I could tell he really loved her.

Billy then turned his attention to me "Well, I guess I have a lot to explain…" I nodded, the atmosphere becoming serious. "The legends of Taha Aki are true; our people become wolves at any sign of the cold ones… Ephraim Black did make a pact with the Cullen's a long time ago, they promised not to feed on the humans or to come on our lands, and they left, but came back a few years ago. Sam was the first to phase; Paul and Jared were next then the boys… Leah and Seth have also recently phased along with Collin and Brady." I nodded once more, as upset as I was a few hours ago things just seemed to get more and more complicated. "What about Bella? Sam said something about being followed by that crazy woman…" I asked.

Billy looked to Sam, and Sam took on from there "At the end of the school year when Bella moved here, another group of blood suckers came to the area, they were supposed to run through but Bella's blood attracted them, they tracked her all the way back home. The Cullen's killed the leeches mate, and she's been after them to get even ever since, but she's been getting more and more dangerous. We've all been trying to get her…" I frowned "Where is Bella now?" I asked. Billy looked up from his cup "She's at the Cullen's, she's safe for now. Jake is with her too, along with Leah and Seth Clearwater, they've left the pack…" I guess in a way I was relieved, no matter what, Bella was my friend too… I just wish Jake would have made as much of an effort for me.

"I see…" I sighed, my mind was now a mix of confusing thoughts, I didn't know what to do with the information I had just received. Billy wheeled himself over to me and patted my hand "Everything will be alright, I've talked to your dad already, I just think you should give him a few days to process the information, your room is clean and ready if you'd like to stay over tonight." He offered, I gave him a small smile "Thanks Billy, I think I will" With that I got up and went to "my" room for a while to think about everything that had taken place today 'This is going to be a weird couple of days…' I thought as exhaustion took hold of me and I closed my eyes to dreamless sleep.

It was later in the evening when I came back out of the room, I'd done a lot of thinking while I was on my own and I couldn't really wrap my head around everything that was happening, I felt disbelief about all that had been revealed, confusion of what would happen next, I felt relief that I could be with the boys again, knowing that they hadn't abandoned me by choice. But a small part of me also couldn't help but feel slightly upset and angry that I was just learning about all of this now. I'd decided to take things as they came; I made my way to the living room where I could hear the television. As I walked in Billy smiled and patted the space beside him on the couch and with a sigh I plopped myself down next to him. I looked at the TV only to chuckle, of course the latest baseball game would be on! At this Billy looked at me "Anne, I want to apologies for not being there for you and helping you through everything… There was too much for you to get involved in, and it's very dangerous for anyone out of the pack to know about what's going on, the last thing I want is for the people of the rez to feel unsafe and for the townspeople of forks to revolt against us." He stared straight ahead

I couldn't help but feel slight resentment at the lack of effort, but I could also see it from his point of view, if my dad's reaction was anything to go by. "So, what happens next then?" I asked, Billy glanced my way and replied "You'll meet with the pack tomorrow, we'll show you the ropes and how we do thing when on patrol to look out for the red-haired demon… We hope to get rid of her soon, the boys who are phasing now are much too young for all of this, Seth, Collin and Brady have been the last ones for now…" He turned look out the window. I could tell he was worried, not only for Jacob but for all the teenagers who were changing into wolves on the Rez.

After our conversation, I decided to head to bed, not that I'd get much sleep after my afternoon nap, I also had too many things going through my mind to get much sleep, and knowing that I'd be reunited with my best friends didn't help the anxiety and excitement that I felt. But for now, I'd do the best I could to relax and save some much-needed energy.


	11. Chapter 11: Learning the ropes

Today was the day after my first phase; I'd spent the night at Billy's in order to give my dad some time to understand what was going on. He hadn't taken the news very well, but Sam had reassured me everything would turn out alright in the end. I walked into the kitchen; Billy wasn't there yet so I decided to start breakfast to show my thanks for what he'd done.

I'd just finished preparing the table when Sam and Billy walked in. "Hey Billy, hey Sam" I greeted, then looked at Billy "I made us some breakfast…" I continued. He smiled and wheeled himself to his place at the table. I then looked at Sam "Would you like some? I already ate while I was waiting." Sam smiled "That's alright I ate before coming here… I actually wanted you to come with me to my place and meet the rest of the pack, Emily is very anxious to meet you." I hesitated for a moment 'Quil and Embry are probably gonna be there…' I thought and frowned, I couldn't figure out how I was supposed to act around them. Sam seemed to understand my hesitation because he added "Embry and Quil have been excited ever since they heard the news; I had a hard time stopping them from heading over here as soon as they heard the news."

'Well it couldn't hurt…' I thought and once more as if he knew I'd made my decision Sam walked over to where I was standing and started to lead me to the door only giving me enough time to put my shoes on and walk out the door with a quick "See you later" to Billy. I laughed as Sam dragged me to his truck and couldn't help but ask "Hey, what's the rush?" He gave me a knowing look "When I said I had a hard time stopping Quil and Embry from coming over I wasn't joking, they've been impossible to be around!" He said, I burst out laughing and at that all my worries that they may not want to see me were gone from my mind.

The whole drive to Sam's place I could practically feel my whole body vibrate with excitement and nervousness, but as we pulled into the drive the excitement won over. I'd barely stepped out of the truck when I heard the slamming of a door followed by two excited woops, the next thing I knew I was up in the air and into two strong pairs of arms, I could hear the familiar laughs ringing around me and I couldn't help but join into the laughing fit, crying at the same time.

After a few moments, the arms finally decided to let go of me and I finally got a good look at the two culprits, to say that they had grown would be an understatement, they'd only been about half a foot taller than me the last time I'd seen either of them and now I had to look up to see their faces, meaning they had a good foot and a half advantage on me now. Both had gained muscles as well, no longer the lanky boys I'd grown up with, their eyes also told me that they'd had to mature quite a bit and that was a little disturbing. I could see just how much I'd missed out on and with that thought I couldn't help the tears that kept falling from my eyes. A look of concern crossed both of their faces and I couldn't help but give a laughing sob "I m-missed you g-guys" and with that it was my turn to launch myself at them. I can't say exactly how long we stayed like that I know Quil shed a few tears and even Embry may have let one escape, not that he would've admitted it.

As they set me back down on my feet I could hear whoops and hands clapping from somewhere behind me and when I turned around I couldn't help the deep blush that crept up my cheeks, there stood a small crowd of people that I had grown up around but had never really gotten to know. I hid somewhat behind Embry but that didn't last long when they both grabbed an arm and began dragging me towards the hoard of people "Come on Anne! Come meet the pack!" Embry practically yelled.

As we walked towards the house, everyone had already gone in and settled in the little living room next to the kitchen. Two trays of muffins sat on the coffee table and most of the men in the room were sitting down on the sofa's stuffing their faces with the aforementioned muffins. When Quil, Embry and I walked in, Embry went to sit down with the others and Quil took my hand and led me where I could see everyone in the room. "Alright everyone, this is Anne as you already know, Anne this is everyone!" He paused for a moment then seemed to realize that I needed more of an introduction than that, with an awkward chuckle he continued pointing to the love seat to our left where a couple was sitting, the girl had long straight raven hair with pretty chocolate colored eyes and a cute smile, next to her sat a man slightly taller than Sam but with a more slender build, he had short dark brown hair with the same brown eyes that most of the Quileutes sported, he smiled wide as I looked at him as if we'd met before… "Anne this is Jared, next to him is his imprint Kim," 'So that's Jared' I thought, that explained the smile and familiar feeling he'd been giving me.

We then moved to the sofa where Sam was sitting with a young woman, her face held a long scar spreading from her cheek to her chin; whatever had happened it must have been pretty bad, I didn't stare at her face for long. It definitely didn't mar her beauty; her smile was gentle and kind in a motherly kind of way. Another young man sat at the other end of the sofa near the chair Embry had gone and flopped into. Quil continued where he'd left off "This is Emily, Sam's imprint and next to them is Paul," In a whisper he warned "Watch out for his temper…" and out of nowhere Quil was hit with a pillow that had previously resided between Paul and Sam, Paul glared jokingly and said "I heard that!" I giggled; they all looked so comfortable together I could only hope to fit in as well. "The only ones left are Collin and Brady, they left for their border patrol a few minutes ago, Paul's going to be joining them for the day." The scowl on Paul's face as he got up could only mean he wasn't anticipating the day ahead. He paused as he was about to pass and shuffled my hair with a grin "Welcome to the pack!" He called as he walked out the door.

Quil escorted me to the couch to sit next to Sam and Emily, as I sat down a thought popped into my head, "Quil, what's an imprint?" He looked to me and smiled "It's our better half or soul mate if you will…" I frowned "How do you know when you find them," I asked and then thought. It was Sam's turn to chuckle as he turned to look at Emily "When your eyes meet you know there is no one else out there that could ever measure up to them…" He broke eye contact with her and grinned at Embry who suddenly looked uncomfortable "There's also the fact of age difference," Sam continued "Being an imprint isn't just falling in love with someone, it's much more than that, you are whatever your imprint needs you to be, a brother or sister, a best friend, a secret keeper and a lover when the time comes. Take Embry for example," At this Embry turned every shade of red possible "His imprint is Claire, she's three…" At the wide-eyed look on my face Embry interrupted "Anne, it's like Sam said there is NOTHING romantic about how I feel about her and it won't happen any time soon!" I had to force myself to calm down, and once I'd calmed, I nodded to Sam to continue "As I was saying, as long as we keep fazing we stop aging, all we have to do is phase until our imprints catch up to us."

It took me a couple minutes to think about it and to find a way to accept the situation I was now in, after I'd thought about it Embry's situation wasn't as bad as I'd first imagined, it was odd of course, but I could accept it as it was although I hadn't thought there would be such age differences. As the day went on I understood that I wouldn't be able to go back to school, no matter how much I argued on that point Sam insisted that I was much too dangerous to be around any of the students same as the boys which is why I hadn't seen them in class. Sam and Jared were also wearied of me being around their imprints, that's until Emily came to me and welcomed me to the family with a warm hug. After that both boys relaxed a little.

Emily and Kim were very kind to me although I'd only just met them, when I asked why they were so happy for me to be here their reply was the same; they were glad that Embry, Quil and I had been reunited and that soon Jake would most likely join us. I could only hope they were right. The afternoon consisted of teaching me the ropes, we couldn't let the villagers know about us, patrol went in three shifts a day with two to three of us at a time, Colin Brady and I would all be paired with the others in order to be safer and as much as I didn't like it I had to agree it would be for the best… In the beginning anyway…

When it was time to go back Embry and Quil drove me back to Billy's, we sat in the truck a while before they had to leave for their patrol. When I got inside, Billy was once more in the living room and to my surprise so was my father. I hadn't expected him to be there, he must have walked over. When I walked in the living room my father got up off his seat and we stared at each other, I couldn't help the tears that gathered in my eyes for the second time today. "Hey dad…" I said awkwardly. And with that, my father crossed the room and took me into his arms. He kept me tight to him for a few moments before holding me at arm's length. "Anne, I am so sorry for letting this happen to you… If I would have known…" I stopped him there "Dad, there was no way to know, there's only one other girl like me out of all the boys and the fact I'm a half blood, no one could've known that I'd change too. Besides it's not so bad after the initial freak out…" He didn't seem impressed about my answer but kept quiet all the same. The three of us talked and the subject of schooling was brought up once more, it seemed that Emily and Kim would be helping us in that department, I still wanted to graduate after all. So, it was then decided that I would meet with everyone at Sam's every day at nine o'clock for training and schooling.

****next day****

The next day it was nice to wake up in my own bed, my father and I had cleared the air the night before and he was much more understanding than I would have thought and probably more than I would have been in his situation. I made my way to the kitchen, grabbed a bowl and poured myself some cereal before heading out to Sam's house in my Jeep. When I got there Embry and Quil stood on the front porch as I got out to meet them "Hey Anne, our turn to patrol today but we'll see you for diner!" Said Embry, with that they made their way to the woods behind Sam's house.

When I walked into the house I was nearly pushed over by two boys as they passed and headed to the kitchen 'must be Collin and Brady' I thought 'Just great, two kids in the mix of this…' I sighed. I took off my shoes and headed towards the kitchen where I saw Emily already at work on food for everyone, sitting at the table were the two boys now sat munching on hot dogs. "Hey Emily, need any help?" She turned to me with a bright smile "I'm actually almost done, but if you'd like Sam, Paul and Jared are out back, go on and let them know that lunch is ready." She then turned towards the boys at the table "These guys are Collin and Brady; they've already started to run out with the boys although today it's time for some school work." At the mention of school both boys moaned out complaints. Collin had a mess of jet black hair and coal black eyes, he was the shorter of the two, and Brady was only a few inches taller with light brown hair and matching light brown eyes. The two may have been shorter than the others but they were nearing my height, they were sure to grow taller than me within the next few weeks. I walked to the back door attached to the kitchen to find Sam, Paul and Jared standing in the shadow of the trees. "Hey guys!" I yelled "Foods ready!" As soon as the words left my mouth all three started to run for the house, I got out of the way just in time before they could plow me over.

Watching the boys eat was like watching a hungry pack of wolves 'pun intended' I chuckled to myself. Emily came to stand beside me "You know you should get some food before it's all gone." She said. "Oh, don't worry I had a big breakfast before coming here." I said, I then added "Wow Emily, I don't know how you do it; it's like taking care of a bunch of kids!" As soon as that left my mouth everyone except Sam turned my way, mouths overflowing with glares all aimed at me, after that I couldn't help it I laughed "And you just proved my point!" Emily chuckled beside me; Jared finally swallowed his food to reply "Hey! You'd be hungry too if you had to go on patrol!" I chuckled "Jared it's not about the amount of food you eat but how you eat it! I mean really, look at your face it's covered with half of what was on you plate when you first started!" I laughed. At this all the boys wiped their faces and continued to eat in a more civilized fashion.

That morning I worked on some of my school work but kept getting distracted about what was to come this afternoon 'I mean what if my phasing was just a onetime thing?' I pondered then realized I'd been reading the same paragraph for the third time 'This is gonna be a long morning…' I sighed and tried to get back to work.

When the afternoon finally came I was standing in the middle of the same clearing Sam had gotten me to phase back the other day. Sam, Quil and Embry stood in front of Brady, Colin and I as they would be our instructors for the day. Embry and Quil had readily volunteered to help me out on my first day which is why they had gotten the first patrol shift this morning. Sam stepped forward and looked to Brady and Colin "Alright boys, I want you two to go out a ways and phase, meet back here once you're done." With that they left and Sam turned to me "Anne I want you to concentrate on phasing for today, it'll take a while but Embry will be your partner to help you out while Quil and I train the boys." I nodded and walked away with Embry right behind me.

When were far enough from the others I turned towards Embry "So, any tips before we start?" I asked. He grinned "Most of the new wolves start out phasing because they're angry, so if you can't get yourself angry enough on your own I'm here to help with that." I chuckled "Well you sure can get on my nerves sometimes!" I joked. We both laughed for a moment and it felt good, it was as if they'd never left. I stood there for a moment staring at Embry before closing my eyes and concentrating on the task at hand. Before a minute went by Embry interrupted my train of thought "It also helps to remember how it felt to be a wolf, embrace it if you can." With that I heard him sit down to wait things out.

'Alright, now think…' I had a lot to be angry about and I decided to start back on the train of thought that had brought me into this whole mess. Flashes of Embry, Jake and Quil with their backs facing towards me, Gran, and the pitying glances of my father and the people at school went through my mind. Then I recalled the scent of everything, the sounds of the forest all around me, the earth underneath my feet. And that's when I felt it; a strange pull in the pit of my stomach, and with another pull the familiar ripping sound of clothes was all around me. Thoughts came into my mind before I even opened my eyes and I heard congratulating yips coming from where we'd left the others. Sam's voice entered my mind '_I see you're going to be a fast learner Anne! Now let's get to work on getting you ready for patrols.' _


	12. Chapter 12: The Chase

A week had already gone by and I was happy to say that I was a fast learner! Though apparently, I hadn't been the only one… The only thing that was still a little hard to control was the awkward anger phases, I'd taken to meditating to help with that but I wasn't entirely sure it was helpful. I'd been out on a few short patrols already and they were only going to get longer as I got more experience in the field. So far, the patrols I'd been on had been unexciting which I guess was what we wanted, it meant the leech that had been roaming around wasn't in our territory but it also meant that there weren't any chances at ending this whole thing. My chance finally came on my next patrol…

I was running with the pack, Sam was at the lead, Jared and Paul on either side of him while I took the rear, as we had discovered I was the fastest runner but I was also the most inexperienced. The boys had spent a lot of time trying to explain the thrill of the hunt to me once you'd found a scent to follow, the way the adrenaline rushes through your body, making you give it your all to get to one goal, destroy the prey.

The first time I was told how exciting the chase was, I couldn't help but be a little disgusted by the thought of killing someone, even though that someone was already dead. Even seeing it from the packs minds I didn't like the thought of it, but now that it was happening it was different. My natural instincts were taking over.

I was the first to catch the prey's scent in the forest on our side of the border separating our land and the Cullen's, Paul who was on patrol with me called to Sam and Jared immediately, the stench was only seconds old, meaning she'd heard us coming and had started running. Paul and I had started after her before she could get too far, it wasn't the first time that she'd made herself known, the incident in the clearing had been proof of that but she was getting cocky, each time we seemed to be getting closer to finally catching her.

It wasn't long before we caught sight of her, her long red hair was a great give away of her position, we were slowly gaining on her when Sam and Jared joined us. As we took formation I could finally understand what the boys had meant about how thrilling it was. My instincts took over my body, my strides got longer, more graceful, my hearing seemed keener to every sound she made and my eyes grew sharper seeing every movement of her body.

'_Anne stay behind and stand guard in case she decides to engage in battle, Jared flank her on the right, Paul on the left.'_ Sam gave out his orders and I watched as Jared and Paul ran faster on either side of her, we were almost there. She wasn't the fastest of bloodsuckers but she was definitely crafty, Sam had said she could use anyone and anything to her advantage, getting the pack frustrated with each other when she'd maneuver them to hit into each other, giving her enough time for escape. But this time it would be different I decided, this time I'd catch her myself if I had to, Bella's life was on the line and I wouldn't let her get away with it.

'_Anne! Concentrate!'_ Sam bellowed in my head, he must have seen that I was getting a little too excited to get to this leech that threatened my friend's life. Every time my emotions got away from me was when the pack could read everything in my mind, I realized I had to focus on my part of the chase and as much as I hatted back up duty I was going to do my part well. 'Sorry Sam, it won't happen again' I answered him. With that I was back on track.

Just as Paul and Jared made it to each side of the leech she decided to strike, she was able to land a good punch to Paul's head, as he stumbled to the side Jared lunged at her while her back was turned but she'd been expecting him. She jumped to a nearby tree and launched herself into Jared's side Sam finally go to them with me right on his heals he made to grab her but only caught the bottom her shirt in his jaws. Sam yanked her off of Jared with a great shake of his head; she went flying in to the same tree she'd just used as a launching post.

Sam lunged once more for her, Paul who'd regained his balance was right behind him. '_Ugh...'_ Jared groaned in my head I could feel that his ribs ached. I raced to Jared 'Are you alright!?' I asked him, sniffing his side for any trace of blood. '_I'm fine, go help the others… I'll be right there' _he panted, she'd knocked the breath out of his lungs.

I turned just in time to see Victoria slip out of Sam and Paul's reach both tangled in each other's limbs. What I did next was entirely stupid and irrational, but I couldn't help it. As Victoria made to run I got angry and lunged after her. I snapped my jaws in her direction, missing her heal by an inch, then the chase was on. She kept running into the woods and I kept up to her, I could see the aggravation on her face as she realized I was still on her tail. I could hear Sam yell at me to turn back but my instincts had completely taken over, I was going in for the kill.

It only took one little mistake on my part, one tiny slip of the mind as I heard Sam getting closer to our position, my concentration waning for a split second and that's when she striked. I didn't have time to think, I was suddenly lying on my side with her on top of me as I tried to struggle out of her grip like I'd seen the others do. It was too late, she'd already grabbed a good hold of my left ankle.

'_ANNE!'_ I could hear all three of my pack mates cry for me as the images of Victoria zoomed through their heads. Just as Paul burst through the trees Victoria gave a sickening twist to my ankle, the sound that came was horrifying and the pain that followed indescribable. I couldn't help the cry that left my mouth, and then she was gone. I laid on the forest floor thrashing around, my left ankle was on fire, and no matter how much I struggled the pain just wouldn't stop, it only made it worse but my mind didn't seem to comprehend that. Paul in a last attempt to stop me from moving laid his weight on top of my body to hold me down.

Fear struck me when I felt the weight thinking it was Victoria again. '_Anne! You need to stop moving! You're making it worse for yourself, you need to calm down.' _Sam's voice was commanding yet at the same time oddly soothing. I was able to calm down enough to stop my useless struggle. 'It hurts…' I whimpered pathetically. Sam sighed '_I know but you brought this onto yourself'_ he replied, his eyes showed how worried and anxious he was even if he looked calm on the outside. '_Sam! That wasn't...'_ Jared started to protest when I interrupted him. 'No Jared, he's right, I disobeyed orders…' I looked away from them.

The pain was very slowly fading away, for once thankful about our fast healing abilities, once Sam realized that I'd calmed down he got Paul to get up off of me as he went to inspect my ankle. By the hiss that came out of his mouth I knew something was wrong. 'What is it Sam?' the fact that he was blocking away the picture of what he was seeing was getting me frantic all over again. Sam sighed and looked over to Paul and Jared, '_It's almost completely healed already…'_ I sighed in relief as he said that. '_But, the bone didn't set right…'_ he continued.

My head whipped in his direction 'what does that mean Sam?!' I exclaimed, Sam looked away and Paul was the one to respond 'It means were going to have to re-break the bone at some point to reset them…' I could already feel myself start to pant, there was no way I was going through that pain again, Jared sighed clearly, he'd heard me '_There's no other way Anne, the bone won't set itself back in place on its own…_' He looked over to Sam in defeat not at all liking what he was about to say '_Fuck… I hate the thought of it but we need a real doctor… I think Carlisle should have a look at it._' If Sam hadn't been the alpha the statement would have been final.

Unfortunately, Sam seemed to agree, I'd never met any of the Cullen's and it made me nervous to think of meeting them, knowing Jacob was probably there and he had no idea that I'd become part of the pack. 'If it has to be done I don't want Jake to know…' I said in defeat, nothing I could do on my own would fix my ankle. '_Why not?'_ asked Paul, '_he's your best friend!'_ he continued, exasperated by my constant refusal to be in contact with Jake.

Fact was, I was still mad as hell that he'd completely cut me off from his life, like Embry hadn't been enough although he had definitely made up for it and even Quil had kept in touch via text. In my mind, he could have made more of an effort, seems like our friendship just hadn't been strong enough. Paul groaned as my thoughts entered his mind '_not this again… You need to talk to him! Ignoring him isn't going to help.'_ Coming from Paul this was something, considering he was just as good if not better at keeping grudges. He barked a laugh '_At least I wouldn't be scared because he's in love with Bella!'_ he sneered. An angry growl ripped from my throat; that was a low blow.

'_That's enough! Both of you stop it!'_ Sam interrupted '_Paul head back and tell the others what happened'_ at Sam's orders Paul left towards the rez while Sam turned his attention back to me. '_Do you think you can stand?'_ Sam asked 'I think so…' I replied as soon as I tried to stand I made the mistake of putting weight on my paw, pain shot through my leg and I collapsed to my side once again. Once the pain had ebbed away I looked to Sam and Jared 'I think I'm gonna need some help' I admitted. Jared made his way over to my side, and with his help, I made my way up to stand on three legs.

Sam faced us '_Now were going to need to head to the Cullen's place' _ he stated slight disgust slipping in. I started to protest knowing that Jacob might be there but Sam was quick to cut me off '_Paul is right Anne, it's about time you stop sulking!'_ I looked to Jared for some help. '_I have to agree with them Anne… I'm sorry but you can't keep hiding like this, if we're to help the Cullen's you're going to have to learn to deal.'_ Well, Jared was no help, I heard both of them sigh and that only made me groan.

'Sorry, I know you're right…' I answered, and I knew they were, I'd tried on many occasions to try and call but I always disconnected the line before he'd answer the phone, to be honest the thought of being around the Cullen's also made me nervous now that I'd had my first reaction to Vamps, I knew they were the good guys but when Victoria had made her appearance my instincts to kill had taken over and I wasn't able to stop myself, my currently aching ankle was proof of that.

'_Don't worry, they might smell just as bad but even our instincts aren't quite as bad when we're around them.'_ Sam said trying to console me a little. But maybe they were right and this is what I needed to finally get this out and hope for the best that Jake would at least give me the time of day. I knew he was busy with patrols around the Cullen's territory if what Sam had said was correct, which it usually was. I made my resolve and looked at the boys 'Let's get this over with' I turned to the direction I knew that Cullen house to be in and started the slow trek to our destination.

It took the three of us a while to get even remotely close to the Cullen's house, and the closer we got the more anxious I became about the whole situation, seeing Jacob, meeting the Cullen's and having my bone reset. I shivered at the thought of the pain I'd have to go through again, Jared stood on my left supporting me off of my bad leg while Sam walked a few yards in front of us. We'd all been quiet during the walk; seem we were all anxious to get this over with.

When the trees started to clear Sam stopped in his tracks '_we're going to stop here, I don't want Bella to see you like this'_ he said and then made his way to what I assumed was a house. I let out a small breath of relief; I hadn't wanted Bella to see the condition of my leg. I'd almost passed out when I'd snuck a peek earlier on our way here, Jared had used most of his weight to keep me from falling all over again. 'Hey Jared,' I asked, '_Yeah? What is it?'_ he looked to me 'Can you help me down?' I asked a little embarrassed that I had difficulty doing such a simple task. '_Sure,'_ he chuckled as he helped me keep my weight off the ankle.

I'd just finished settling down laying my fluffy tail over the wounded appendage when we heard people coming our way. It didn't take long for Sam to reappear, and this time he was accompanied by four of the Cullen's, all of them were extremely beautiful just like Bella had described them in one of our meetings. The first to approach was tall and lean with blond hair, out of all of them he seemed the wisest, by the mental picture Jared was sending me I assumed it was Carlisle, as he approached I couldn't help but notice that all four of them had honey colored eyes, 'wonder why their eyes are that color, not that I'm complaining…' I thought. I would be lying if I said Victoria's red eyes didn't bother me.

I took in a deep breath when Sam and the man stopped a few feet away from me, and to my surprise their smell didn't bother me one bit, it was definitely not the best of smells but better than Victoria's by a long shot. My instincts also stayed low while as soon as Victoria's scent had entered my system not too long ago had sent me into a hunting frenzy, unable to control most of my movements, all that had mattered was the kill.

Sam came over to my side "Anne, this is Dr. Cullen, he's just going to take a look at your ankle…Okay?" he said and I looked at him 'Do I have to?' I tried to ask even though he couldn't hear me I whimpered at the thought of someone touching my sore limb. At that moment, the second male came over, a small smile played on his lips, he seemed to be the youngest out of the four, his hair was in disarray yet it suited him. 'Edward?' I thought, he definitely fit the description that Sam and Bella had shown and told me.

His smile widened "Yes. It's nice to meet you Anne, although, I wish it were under different circumstances; Bella and Jake have told me about you" he stated, I looked at him clearly confused, 'You can hear me?' I asked and Jared sighed behind me '_He's the creepy one that reads every ones minds'_ he was looking at Edward not pleased by the fact he knew how to communicate with us. Carlisle looked to Edward then turned his attention to me once more.

Sam stood next to the man wearing a pair of jeans slightly too small for his frame, the Cullen's must have lent him a pair. "I'm going to have to take a look at your leg Anne. I promise to do my best to fix it" With a sigh I pulled away my tail from my damaged limb, as soon as it came into view a hiss came from one of the females, her face contorted into a grimace, she didn't seem to like the looks of it and I couldn't blame her. Carlisle slowly walked closer looking to me to make sure I was alright with him being there, he seemed hesitant to make sudden movements until I made eye contact with him 'You can come close… I won't hurt you…' I whined laying my head to the ground as Edward conveyed the message. When Carlisle finally got to me he crouched near my leg and went to grab it, he looked to me once more for the okay to touch it, and I nodded.

After examining my leg a few moments, he looked to me then to Sam "It wasn't a bad break but the bone didn't have time to reset itself before it healed. In a normal case, it would have re-aligned in time… But with your healing it had no chance…" Sam nodded in understanding a frown starting to make its way to his face "What do we do now then?" he asked. Carlisle sighed and looked to me just by the look in his eyes I knew what he was about to say "We have to set it back in place… this means we have to re-break the bone. Edward and I will fix the leg, Alice and Esme you'll have to help Sam and Jared to hold her down." He'd turned to the others as he spoke. My ears drooped down and Jared whined, he didn't seem to like the Idea any more than I did.

The smaller of the two women made her way next to my head, her pixie cut hair bounced with every graceful step, she stopped next to me and smiled "Hi there, I'm Alice! I'm sorry we have to do this but I'll hold your mouth shut, just in case… alright?" She tilted her head to the side; I just blinked at her dumbly and nodded. How could someone so dangerous be so darn cute? I heard Sam sigh in my mind, he'd phased back to help hold me down. The last one to come near me was whom I presumed to be Esme, the one who hadn't liked the look of my leg, she stood next to Alice, and she explained she'd be holding my neck down.

A few moments after that everybody was in position, Jared was draped over my torso while Sam took up my rear end and free leg, Alice and Esme had a good grip on my muzzle and neck to stop me from snapping at anyone. The panic only set in when Edward and Carlisle took their position at my leg, Edward gave me a sympathetic look before concentrating on the task ahead. From all the fuss of holding me down I knew it would hurt and they seemed to think I'd lash out. The moment came all too soon and another painful _crack_ was heard, pain shot through my mind a high-pitched yelp ripping from my throat and nobody expected what happened next. My head lolled to the side in a dead faint, the pain too much to handle for a second time.

We'd gotten to Sam's house after Dr. Cullen had deemed my leg well enough for light travel; it had taken us a little over half an hour to get here. I was currently sitting on Sam's living room couch with my leg propped up on a pillow, while he walked circles in front of me; he'd been doing so for about a minute. Jared and Paul had left when they'd deposited me on the couch; they seemed to know what was coming. I didn't dare say anything, I had a feeling I was about to get yelled at judging by Sam's facial expressions.

After a few more rounds Sam finally stopped his pacing and glared at me "Do you know what your irresponsible actions could have done? Do you have any _idea_ what you were doing when you just up and left like that chasing a deranged vampire!?" His pacing started all over again, "What would I have told your dad if she'd done worst damage than this? She could have killed you Anne! Do you understand that!?" He yelled. I'd never seen him loose it like that… "Look I get it! I just wasn't thinking, I got caught up in the moment or something…" I looked down, ashamed of what I'd done. Sam sighed "Look, I'm taking you off patrol for a while, but I want you here with Emily to help with whatever the others need." I looked to him shocked "What!? But that's not fair! When the others make mistakes, they don't get thrown off of patrol!" I exclaimed "That's because none of them have gone as far as you have Anne, you completely disobeyed me! The next time it might just get you killed!" Sam replied. With that he left the house to talk with the others, Quil and Embry were sure to be pissed when they heard about my run in with the leech.

As soon that the door clicked shut Emily came out of the kitchen, a plate of fresh blueberry muffins in hand "You know he's just worried about you right? It pained him to have to tell the others not to tell you anything; it's just the way it has to be; only parents and Imprints are allowed to know our secret. And now you're like a little sister to him and the pack, they'd all be devastated if you were gone especially Quil and Embry." I laughed "Yeah I know, I deserved it anyway, I understand why it has to be secret but it doesn't make it much better…" I looked to her "Guess you're stuck with me for a bit! Just a warning though, my cooking skills are a little lacking!" The answering smile made me feel better from the talk I'd just had with Sam "I guess I'll have to teach you all I know! I'm sure we'll have some fun Anne, and don't worry about patrol I'll talk to Sam about it." With that she left the bowl of muffins next to me and went back to the kitchen, no doubt to make some more.

I was just about to eat a third very delicious muffin when Quil and Embry burst in the room, both were red in the face and I could only assume they'd heard about my little incident. "YOU IDIOT!" Both boomed at the same time 'Yep I'm definitely in trouble…' I mentally sighed. "You could have died! Then what would we have told Jake when he decides to come back!?" Quil said his voice still above normal. I became angry at that "It's not like he cares anymore!" I huffed and looked away "Of course he still cares and when I tell him what you did he's going to flip and you know it!" his glare lightened a little as he saw I was becoming upset. The boys walked over and sat on either side of me, I could still see how tense they were, and obviously they weren't going to let this one go very easily. "Look, Sam told us he already punished you but we're both worried you're going to do something stupid…" Embry said as he looked at me, Quil finished what Embry was trying to say "Because of this we asked Sam for permission to follow you around until you're let back on patrol." I stared at them in disbelief.

"You're WHAT?!" I exclaimed, clearly, I'd heard them wrong. Embry sighed "Look, we just don't want you to be sneaking around patrolling on your own when no one's around, it's that or you stay at Emily and Sam's until you can get back on patrol." Quil nodded his head showing his agreement, "And Sam approved of this!" Both nodded this time. I sighed 'I guess I deserve it… still not fair though…' I thought.

The next day the whole pack excluding Embry and Jared who were out on patrol met up at Sam's, all of us had agreed that the leech was getting a little too comfortable coming into our territory and something had to be done about it fast, before one of the civilians got hurt, or worst… I wheeled Billy towards the house since I'd gone over to pick him up; he and old Quil were both going to be there to discuss our next plan of action.

As soon as I walked in I was met with Emily's usual warm smile and after situating Billy in the living room I walked over to help her and Kim get some snack ready for everyone, I can honestly say I was guilty of stealing a few bites of everything before it was served, I couldn't help it if my stomach could take control over my actions… right? At least Emily didn't mind, I'd just have to make sure the boys never found out… Once the food was done I brought most of the dishes over to the coffee table that sat in the middle of the living room surrounded by more chairs than was really comfortable for such a small space but with the size of all the boys in the pack it couldn't be helped.

Once every one was settle the atmosphere in the room turned dark, the seriousness of the meeting was finally taking its toll on us. Billy was the first to speak "You all know why we're meeting; it's time for us to find a means to finish off the cold one that is threatening our people. Any and all ideas will be considered, anything that will give us a chance of finally getting this over with, not only are our people at risk but also the towns folks of Forks." I knew at that moment that he was thinking of Charlie. Paul was the first to rush in suggesting to get rid of the Cullen's and in turn getting rid of the red head; of course, I refused as soon as the Idea was vocalized.

On and on it went, hours went by, many cups of coffee were drunk, much of the food eaten and we were still at a standstill every suggestion so far had a fatal flaw in it. I'd been running over an idea in my head but, in my mind, it just seemed stupid to even think about… Considering what everybody thought of the Cullen's but… My thoughts were interrupted by Sam who had somehow noticed my lack of attention the past couple of minutes "Did you think of anything Anne?" he asked, everyone got quiet and I could feel my cheeks heat with embarrassment "It's nothing, it's stupid anyway…" I shifted in my seat thinking it would be the end of it but of course Sam had to be persistent "Come on Anne, can't be worse than anything else we've thought of!" With a sigh, I steeled myself for the strong opposition that I was about to hear "Well, I was thinking, every plan we make won't work because we need more numbers or because we wouldn't be able to get to her in the trees or water…" I looked around but no one interrupted "I was thinking if we somehow joined forces with the Cullen's we'd have numbers and people able to go through the trees…" Of course, I didn't get a chance to go any further when the whole pack erupted into a whirlwind of curses, yelling and the few who actually seemed to somewhat agree with my idea 'Mainly Emily and Kim' I sighed 'I should have just kept my mouth shut!' I thought.

On and on this went until late at night, people came and went as patrol shifts changed and then we came to the conclusion that maybe speaking with the Cullen's may be one, if not the only answer to end this chasse of cat and mouse or in this case Wolf and Leech. It was agreed that we'd make a meeting point with the aforementioned Cullen's in a couple of days, after all they had helped the pack… mainly me… for now we'd keep watch over the territory.


	13. Chapter 13: Realization

**Hi everyone! Sorry for the long wait! I've had some trouble with the upcoming chapters and thinking of changing certain things but that would have meant re-writing 5 chapters...Blah! Updates are going to take longer now as I'm writing closer to the end of the story (I have 5-6 more to write and it'll be done with 24-25 chapters to this story). I'm finding it harder to write now than I did before as I didn't have complete plans for those as I did the first 18... I want to take my time updating in case I have to go back to previous chapters and make some changes. With that said I hope everyone is staying safe in these troubled times, 2020 is throwing hurdles at all of us left and right but we can do this! Please review as it's nice to have encouragement to write (it helps motivate me when I have writers block)! Please be aware that I've now changed things in the timeline to accommodate the fact that there is a new character (Anne) in the story. Thanks to everyone who has favourited/follow this story! Love you all! **

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Plans were made to meet up with the Cullen's a couple of days after the meeting, we'd made contact through Bella and Edward when one of the boys went for a "visit" to speak with them, it was then agreed we'd meet at the Cullen's since we weren't going to let them anywhere near the Rez.

The morning of the meeting everyone met up early at Sam's for breakfast, Emily and I had made another humongous meal together and I've got to say I was starting to get the hang of it!

We arrived at the Cullen's five minutes before the meeting was to take place. Their house was very impressive, not your stereotypical vampire living quarters 'Probably no coffins or cobwebs' I thought and snorted in laughter at my own thoughts, I heard the others groan in our linked minds. The place was definitely elegant compared to every other house in the area.

Sam had finally decided to join forces with the Cullen's, our goal was to protect the humans and after the incident on the Rez we weren't taking any chances of her hurting any others. As we got closer the scent of the vampires was starting to get to me, even though it didn't bother me as much as it did the others, it was just so concentrated here that I imagine it would be almost overwhelming for the rest of the pack.

As Sam had expected, the Cullen's and Jake's pack were already there. Edward's powers had alerted him of our nearby presence. The sight of Jake made my heart ache, 'he doesn't even know I've phased yet, not that he'd care anyway' I thought to myself. I looked up to see Edward looking at me and just as our eyes met I looked away. I knew he'd heard my thoughts, unlike the pack I couldn't block him out.

Sam, Embry and Jared stood in front of the Cullen's and Jake while Quil, Paul and I stood behind Sam. Our job was to protect them if anything happened. Jake stood just behind Carlisle standing on guard like we were. "Welcome, it's an honour to know that you've decided to help us in our cause to keep Bella safe. " The one who spoke was Carlisle, he seemed really nice, I couldn't be sure since I'd only met him once before and it was for a brief moment, he seemed almost human if you didn't know what to look for; they'd all learned how to blend in well with the humans.

"We only agree because the pack is obligated to help the humans in the area, and also because she has now trespassed on our territory one too many times, this agreement does not give you permission to be on our lands." Sam said. Although we had come to the decision that helping Bella was the right thing to do, he was still very stern on that point. It made no difference to me; I'd made up my mind to help Bella whether or not the pack decided to, Bella had briefly explained what had happened when she'd had her "accident" in Phoenix. I didn't resent her for loving Edward, it was her life, and she'd reassured me that her feelings for Jake, although strong, would never compare to those she had for Edward. We'd started talking again via text a few days ago and she had come to visit once while the Cullen's had to leave for a couple of hours but with the leech around it wasn't safe for her to wander.

My conflict was with Jake, he hadn't imprinted on her so why linger? Why had he abandoned me and gone to her? Why tell her he was a shape shifter and not me? Didn't I matter anymore? I remembered our pinkie swear at that moment it seemed so long ago, we'd promised to not only be friends but that we'd stick together no matter what. Without realizing it, he'd done to me what Edward had done to Bella when he'd left. I looked to Edward a second time and knew he'd heard that as well, he looked pained. 'Sorry Edward…' A small smile graced his lips then, as he nodded.

As always, I couldn't stop the thought that maybe he'd imprint on me if he'd just look at me, but I'd been a coward and I'd stayed away from him in fear that nothing would happen. My thoughts were cut off when the subject finally came to the leech Victoria. "She is clever; she will take her time in trying to have her revenge. Alice here has been trying to keep an eye on her but with the current circumstances it is a little difficult…" Carlisle was the one to speak again, Sam nodded.

Jared who'd stood by quietly asked the one question all of us wanted answered "What is to be done with Bella while all of this is happening? It would be safer to have her out of here." The Cullen's all looked at each other, I could tell this conversation had already been talked about probably with Bella there and from the looks on their faces it hadn't gone over well. "Bella refuses to leave the area, nothing we can say will change her mind, and she has too many attachments to the people involved." Carlisle said, everybody knew he meant attachments to Edward more than anyone else. In the corner of my eye I saw Jake frown at the thought of it, obviously he'd tried his hand at trying to convince her and I had a hard time holding back the chuckle forming in my throat. Bella could be hard headed when she was set on something. Both Paul and Quil chuckled at my thoughts and I could see a smirk forming on Edwards face.

I glanced at Jake once more only to see him looking at a window in the Cullen's home and I knew instantly that Bella was in that room. The look on his face was of one who worried that she couldn't be saved from the situation, it made me mad that he could think we'd let something happen to her. I couldn't help the snarl that ripped through my throat 'Like I'd ever let that happen' I thought.

Once again Edward gave me a small smirk and a look of thanks, as though my help would make all the difference in the world. A soon as I snarled the Cullen's tensed and Embry dug his hand into the fur on my neck "Control your mutt!" the leech with blond hair snarled back. Edward seemed unfazed and which calmed down his family but Jacob looked towards me for the first time in months, anger evident in his gaze as he looked in my direction, noticing a new wolf for the first time, and back to Sam clearly warning him to control the "situation". "Stand down, Anne!" Sam said his voice even and calm, I laid down, I couldn't fight against the alpha.

Jacob looked at me in shock and I avoided his gaze "Anne…" he whispered shocked. I fled.

Jakes POV:

The Cullen's had all gone their own way only moments ago and I stood there staring at the spot where she had stood, my best friend in the world had been right in front of me and I hadn't even noticed. I wondered not for the first time if she'd still be there for me when I got back. But at the same time, I knew my duty and my heart were with Bella, for as long as she would want me by her side. I continued to stare in the same direction, time seemed to crawl, and as Edward approached the spell was broken.

"You know, you did to her the same thing I did to Bella, right?" Said Edward as I tried to get another glimpse of the white wolf that I now knew to be Anne, running into the woods towards the Rez. The others had dispersed moments ago as well. I looked to him confused, 'how was it the same when I'd had no choice?' I thought "Maybe," he answered reading my mind "but that's not how she feels… you've known her for ten years and yet you decided to tell Bella about your shifting and not her. She believes you could have made more of an effort and I agree" He continued.

All of a sudden, I felt a deep pain in my chest, it ached, and I realized how much of a jerk I'd unintentionally been. But then I remembered her snarl when I'd looked to Bella's window and my anger returned. "Jacob, she didn't snarl to threaten Bella or with the intentions of hurting anyone. She was angered by your apparent lack of faith in them… in her, to protect her friend and someone who's special to you…". He paused a moment thinking about his next words "Her feelings for you go deeper than you can imagine, even after what you put her through, she's still in love with you." The breath I'd been in the process of taking got stuck in my throat, 'love? Impossible…' I knew that feeling, the feeling of loving someone deeply and seeing them seemingly disappear but our love wasn't the same, they couldn't be 'Could they?' She was my best friend, partner in crime, always smiling at me, always comforting me… Like I'd been doing with Bella to make her happy…

The pain in my chest returned full force. "I didn't even know she felt that way… and I've known her for years…" I was angry and ashamed at myself, I'd hurt one of the most important people in my life, I'd gone to Bella all this time when I'd had someone waiting for me to come back home but it was too late to turn back time. I also couldn't dismiss my feelings for Bella while I still had some sort of a chance. "Do you think she'll forgive me?" I found myself asking.

I looked to Edward who in turn looked at me. "I don't know…" he replied and I knew he was telling the truth, as always. This was probably the one thing I liked about him but in this moment, I hated his honesty. It hurt to think of losing her, to never see her smile and hear her laugh at my corny jokes, to have someone work alongside me and share every moment of my life with. I realized in that moment and probably too late that I loved her too… almost as much as I did Bella. But Bella needed saving and I'd already decided to give my life for her and I wouldn't back out on that promise now not until it was truly over.

That's when I decided that I had to see her, to apologize for everything I'd done and attempt to explain to her why I couldn't be there right now, if ever, in the case that Bella changed her mind.

Anne's POV:

As soon as I'd turned my back, Paul and Quil were yelling for me to stop and turn around but I blocked them out of my thoughts, happy for once that I was different in this way, the elders thought it was because of my diluted blood but at this time it didn't matter. I needed time away from everything and everyone. The only thing I couldn't block out was the howls coming from the opposite direction.

I spent the better part of the afternoon running around the forest near the Rez when I smelled a floral sent, curious I turned in the direction it was coming from and made my way towards it, I slowed down when I got to a familiar clearing. One I hadn't been in in a few months after everything that had happened I was upset to say that I'd forgotten about my small haven. I went over to the flowers still blooming impressed they were still intact after all this time, I laid down in front of them for a while trying to forget all that had been happening the past few months. 'That was stupid' I thought with a sigh 'I should've bucked up and confronted him…' I grumbled under my breath.

I always seemed to make things harder for myself when it came to Jake and yet I couldn't help myself, he made me stupid beyond belief and an absolute mess emotionally. I just couldn't tell what would happen when I'd finally had enough and that scared me the most, at this point trying to forget about him would be near impossible… For the sake of my sanity I really hoped things would change for the better and not just for me, for everyone involved.


	14. Chapter 14: Seeing you

It was a couple of days after the meeting and I was finally able to escape my babysitters for the day with constant complaint and a pouty face, I'd still not been let back on patrol and I was tired of being followed and watched every second of everyday. Embry and Quil had no choice but to leave me when they got sent on patrol and Sam had decided to spend the day with Emily. This left me to my couch with junk food and movies that I hadn't watched in a very long time.

I was nearly through my fourth movie of the day when I heard footsteps on the front porch followed by a knock on the door. I looked at the clock, it read 4:15PM; Quil and Embry weren't due back from patrol for a couple more hours and Sam had said he'd call if anything happened. With a sigh, I threw candy wrappers on the floor making note that I was going to have to pick this mess up soon before Dad got home from work. I made my way to the door slowly, you couldn't be too cautious anymore and for once I wish we had a peep hole or window around the door.

I grabbed the handle and twisted, I stood stock still for a moment when I saw who was at the door. Jake also stood still, avoiding eye contact with me and shuffling his feet awkwardly. This was a sight I wasn't used to, Jake was never like this around me but I guess I'd been acting the same way for a while now by avoiding him completely. After a minute of none of us moving, Jake finally made a half attempt at a smile "Hey" he said. "Hi…" I replied my mind was jumbled with so many thoughts. He was just about to look into my eyes when he quickly averted them to the ground "I was wondering if we could talk…" I was surprised but nodded none the less. "It's probably best if we talked outside" I said, Dad hadn't forgiven Jake and was sure to give him hell the first time he saw him and I wanted to avoid that at all cost, there was also the fact that if things got heated I might burst into a giant wolf that could destroy the house, my only response to his request was a nod.

We were walking in my back yard, heading towards the woods, I didn't mind, it didn't scare me anymore. I looked to Jake about to say something but he looked deep in thought so I decided to wait a while. We walked a way into the woods when I finally started to get frustrated with the silence, we hadn't seen each other in months and now that he was here he wasn't talking? I snorted and Jake shook out of his thoughts to look at me "What's wrong?" He asked. Oh! This was too funny and I couldn't help my sarcastic comment "I haven't seen you in months and you wonder what the hell is wrong?!" I nearly screeched. He flinched at my tone of voice. "Look… It wasn't my fault Anne…You should understand now" He sighed looking at the ground, and my blood just kept boiling "So it wasn't your fault that Bella was allowed to know what the fuck was going on but I couldn't even get just a small hint? Common Jake! I was your best friend for god's sake!" I ranted.

When I finished he gave the ground an angry look "You know that's not fair! I couldn't tell anyone!" I returned the angry look in moments "Yet Bella was allowed to be let slip some information! You've known her for what a year? Two? We were Friends for ten years Jake! Ten years and yet it didn't mean anything to you? Is that it?" I continued. He growled at this "What do you mean 'was' and 'were'? We ARE best friends!" He hissed, he looked towards me as I turned around in frustration.

I couldn't help the humorless laugh "ARE we?" I threw my hands up turned to him and raged "It's hard to say after all this time! Where was my best friend when I got chased through the woods by a crazy leech? Huh? Where was he when everybody I loved left? WHERE WAS HE WHEN MY GRANDMOTHER PASSED AWAY?! HUH?" He flinched; tears were now running down my face "Where was he Jake?" I whispered. He looked away before I continued "I'll tell you where he was, he was with some other girl who has a support system, one that can make her own choices no matter the circumstances…" He grew angry; he knew I was referring to Bella changing into one of the Cullen's "That's out of line Anne…" I'd never seen him so angry at me before and that hurt. I looked down "No, what's out of line is you just can't take a hint! She's in love with Edward and nothing is going to change that, not even you…" I whispered getting exhausted.

When I looked up again he was shacking, I could tell he was trying to stop from phasing. He turned around and hit a nearby tree; it shook under the pressure, he then leaned his head against it and sighed "I've got to try Anne, she needs to live… He can't give her what she wants!" He growled. It was my turn to sigh "And what's that? To marry the love of her life? Because that's exactly what she wants Jacob!" I started pacing this is not how I thought it would turn out. He growled "No! I can give her more! Give her children, grow old together! I know I can make her happy!" The tree was at his mercy again it shook once more from another forceful blow. "Jake, Edward makes her happy, she doesn't want to grow old, as for kids I don't know may be she doesn't want any, anyway the Cullen's, they're her family now…" I tried to reason but he just shook his head "She'll be dead then…" It was hard to disagree that point "But not really…" I tried but knew it wasn't going to work.

I was starting to get upset all over again, this wasn't the Jake I was used to. "You've changed Jacob…" I said. At this he looked my way a frown marring his features "Since when do you call me Jacob?" He looked hurt. "Since my best friend abandoned me for someone else…" I shrugged, trying to act like it didn't matter. "Not this again Anne! I told you I couldn't say anything! There's nothing I could've done!" He yelled. I growled and started to pace again "Well where were you when I phased?! HUH? Nowhere!" Now I was yelling again and he didn't hesitate to yell right back "I DIDN'T KNOW!" he growled once more something we were both doing quite often today; I glared towards him this time "So if I wouldn't have phased you would've stayed out of my life?!" He looked guiltily to the ground and I knew that had been his plans.

I stood shocked 'he really would've left me here alone?' soon enough anger took over the shock again "Well what are you doing here then!? If I'm so unimportant to you why are you here!?" Jake was shacking again "I was here to see you! To apologies! Make amends! I don't know!" He threw his hands in the air as he yelled again looking out behind me. That's when I realized that even with all our arguing he wouldn't meet my gaze "Holly Shit Jacob would you just look me in the eyes!" I yelled. He looked up surprised at the sudden outburst and when our gazes finally locked I knew something was wrong when he stilled, eyes wide. I became worried when he didn't move for a couple minutes "Jake?" I questioned, this seemed to get him out of whatever deep thought he was having before he frowned. "Look I gotta go…" He said while turning around.

I stood still a moment 'Wait what?' I thought "Hey! Wait a minute!" I growled, "You can't just leave like that I'm not done with you yet!" I jogged after his retreating back and almost smacked into him when he stopped suddenly. I stood for a moment unsure what was happening and without any warning he turned around and pulled me to him, if I wasn't a shifter my bones might have broken by the force of it. A moment later I wrapped my arms around him and let myself lean into him, he smelled wonderful all woods and nature, it felt good to be like this… So right… But as fast as it started it was over, he was suddenly a couple feet away from me "I'm so sorry Anne…" and with that he turned, phased, and was gone.

I collapsed to my knees and placed my head in my hands and started to cry once more. 'God I'm sick of crying!' I stayed in the forest another good hour or so out on my own. When I decided to get up my entire body protested the movements, my clothes were soaked. It was in a sour mood that I made my way back to the house; I guess we had walked quite a way when it took me twenty minutes to get back. To my surprise and pleasure my father's car wasn't in the yard, I wouldn't have to explain my state of mind and disarray to anyone.

I walked in the kitchen after I'd taken a shower and found a note on the small dining room table _Hey sweetheart, just went over to Billy's to watch the game. I'll be home by ten. Please have the house cleaned by the time I'm back. Love Dad_. I looked at the wrappers still littering the floor and then to the clock, it was seven. I made my way back to the living room cleaned the garbage then watched another couple of movies to get my mind off of things. I couldn't wait for Quil and Embry to be off patrol, I needed them here as a reminder that not all was lost.


End file.
